Michael Degani from Cambridge University will come to Utrecht University to discuss his book The City Electric with Shaun Smith (Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University) and Deana jovanovio (Cultural Anthropology, Utrecht University). This will be October 13 at 15.00 hours on the Drift.
In this book, Michael Degani explores how electricity and its piracy has become a key site for urban Tanzanians to enact, experience, and debate their social contract, with the state. Moving from the polities of generation contracts down to the street-level experience of blackouts and disconnection patrols, he reveals the logics of infrastructural modification and their effects on everyday life. As politicians, residents, electricians, and utility inspectors all redistribute flows of payment and power, they reframe the energy grid both as a technical system and as an ongoing experiment in collective interdependence.
Friday 13 October 15.00 - 17.00 hours
Drift 13, room 3
Speaker: Michael Degani (Department of Social Anthropology, Cambridge University)
Discussants: Shaun Smith (Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University) and Deana jovanovio (Cultural Anthropology, Utrecht University)
Moderator: Nikkie Wiegink (Culiural Anthropology, Ulrecht University)