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The work of hope: Spiritualizing, hustling and waiting in the creative industries in Ghana

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  • Ana Alacovska
  • Thilde Langevang
  • Robin Steedman

Abstract

This paper examines the dynamics of hope in creative industries in the city of Accra in Ghana. Building on theoretical insights from geography, anthropology and sociology that have mobilized the concept of hope as an analytical category, we examine the economic actions and entrepreneurial behaviour of creative entrepreneurs working in “precarious geographies†, i.e. locations where precarity is not a deviation from the norm but a constant and longstanding feature. Drawing on in-depth interviews, we contend that in conditions of radical and pervasive precarity, hope represents a distinct form of work in which the potentialities of the moment extend the present into the future, while the future, however hazy and unimaginable, affects the economic vitality of the present. By unpacking three dominant practices of hopeful orientation to futurity enacted by creative workers in Accra, namely hustling, waiting, and spiritualizing, we demonstrate the usefulness of hope as a concept in analysing economic action and labour dynamics.

Suggested Citation

  • Ana Alacovska & Thilde Langevang & Robin Steedman, 2021. "The work of hope: Spiritualizing, hustling and waiting in the creative industries in Ghana," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 53(4), pages 619-637, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:53:y:2021:i:4:p:619-637
    DOI: 10.1177/0308518X20962810
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Thilde Langevang, 2017. "Fashioning the Future: Entrepreneuring in Africa’s Emerging Fashion Industry," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 29(4), pages 893-910, August.
    2. Meagher, Kate, 2009. "Trading on faith: religious movements and informal economic governance in Nigeria," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 27366, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Aryeetey, Ernest & Kanbur, Ravi (ed.), 2017. "The Economy of Ghana Sixty Years after Independence," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198753438.
    4. Johan Jansson, 2011. "Emerging (internet) industry and agglomeration: Internet entrepreneurs coping with uncertainty," Entrepreneurship & Regional Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(7-8), pages 499-521, September.
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