This editorial, co-authored by Theo Aalders (Project C03 “Green Futures”), Prince K. Guma (British Institute in Eastern Africa), Evelyne Owino (Project B03 “Violent Futures”) and Gideon Tups (associated researcher, Project C01 “Future in Chains”) introducesUnder construction – towards critical perspectives on infrastructuring and infrastructured labour in Africa, a special issue of the journal Territory, Politics, Governance, by proposing the heuristic of “infrastructuring labour” and “infrastructured labour” to better conceptualise how infrastructure and labour shape one another. Drawing on African case studies, it examines how gendered, colonial, and class-based labour regimes are both reinforced and contested through infrastructural processes. The special issue features contributions by several Future Rural Africa researchers.
Under construction – Towards Critical Perspectives on Infrastructuring and Infrastructured Labour in Africa
By Theo Aalders, Prince K. Guma, Evelyne Owino and Gideon Tups.
Abstract
The editorial of this special issue argues that the relationship between infrastructure and labour is often addressed, but rarely conceptualised, requiring more nuanced concepts and empirical insights. This special issue promotes the heuristic of infrastructuring labour and infrastructured labour as a framework for analysing several case studies in Africa. The heuristic provides a foundation for examining both embodied and structural aspects of gendered, colonial and class-based labour regimes in Africa. This special issue collects articles that highlight various kinds of relationships between infrastructure and labour, as well as the oppressive and liberatory potential of these relationships.
Reference
Aalders, T., Guma, P. K., Owino, E., Tups, G. 2025. Under construction – towards critical perspectives on infrastructuring and infrastructured labour in Africa. Territory, Politics, Governance, 14(2), 191–204. DOI
