March 27, 2025 | Film Screening and Discussion | 807 Schermerhorn 5:00 PM
Film Screening: The Waste Commons: New Provocations of Work in the African Anthropocene (60 min.)
Discussion Following the Screening:
- Speakers:
- Zidane Faye, waste-picker activist featured in the film
- Rosalind Fredericks, director of the film
- Moderator: Souleymane Bachir Diagne (Columbia University)
Description:
The Waste Commons documentary explores the dramatic transformations surrounding the impending closure of Dakar’s city waste dump and the lives that hang in the balance. Watch the trailer here.
Ethnographies of Work in Africa is a Columbia Alliance sponsored initiative uniting scholars from the United States, France, and Africa to explore the evolving nature of work and labor in contemporary Africa. Recognizing work as a foundational theme in African studies, the project seeks to understand emerging forms of work—such as those in cultural industries, digital start-ups, and informal economies—that defy traditional categorizations. It also critically examines precarious labor and its implications for African societies. By bridging historical and contemporary perspectives, the project interrogates long-standing analytical dichotomies, such as wage versus non-wage labor and formal versus informal sectors, while expanding the definition of work to include intellectual, cultural, political, and religious practices. Through ethnographic approaches and thematic workshops, this initiative sheds light on the ecosystems, infrastructures, and social dynamics that sustain diverse work worlds in Africa, aiming to reframe scholarly and policy-oriented conceptions of labor.
Sponsored by the Institute of African Studies, the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life, and the Alliance Program at Columbia University. Part of the Ethnographies of African Work Worlds Workshop on March 28.