Paper short abstract:

Through the ethnographic example of cancer registrars in east Africa, this paper explores what I term 'economies of uncertainty' - economic models in which hope is mobilised in order to keep young, aspirational Africans in positions of precarious and often unpaid labour.

Paper long abstract:

Many economies in Africa function ‘volunteer economies’, economic systems which heavily rely on, and are shaped and informed by, volunteer activity. Frequently this takes the form of voluntary labour coming from the global north, however, it can also mean the voluntary labour of African subjects. In this paper I examine how conditions of precarity are tied in with hope to create what I term ‘economies of uncertainty’ – economic labour structures in which uncertainty, about the future, the next job, or even the current position, fuel and drive people to participate, often unwillingly, in systems and structures of voluntary or unpaid labour. Using the ethnographic example of cancer registrars in various urban centres across east and southern Africa, the paper asks how the pressures of contemporary urban life, coupled with the pressure to secure well-paid jobs, push educated and aspirational young Africans into work in the medical field where they find themselves caught in unpaid labour models from which they struggle to escape. It explores the stresses and stressors that this causes for the registrars, as well as their means of coping with this profound economic and financial uncertainty. The paper suggests that hope plays a key role in keeping registrars returning daily to work, despite frequently not getting paid for the work they do. However, although hope is key, family and financial pressures, career pressures, despondency and a lack of other options also play a crucial role.