Paper short abstract:

In this presentation, I focus on practices of wayfinding and the creation of new routes on the dammed River Nile. Drawing on an experimental audio-visual installation, I explore the work of infrastructuring and sensing the unfamiliar as a way of re-inhabiting radical changing environments.

Paper long abstract:

Work, life and movement along the Nile in rural Northern Sudan are related to the cycle of seasons and the rhythm of the river. With the construction of the Merowe Dam, the River Nile was impounded, and thousands of peasants have been flooded out of their homes without warning. The inundation of agricultural fields and inhabited villages not only caused existential uncertainty and the loss of work but also disrupted socio-material entanglements and habitual patterns of sensory experiences. Flooded desert paths and routes as well as changing characteristics of river waters, winds and waves required the readjustment of the senses while navigating through ruined land and waterscapes; new sights and sounds demanded “focal attention” (Polanyi 2013). Based on in-depth ethnographic fieldwork, I propose to analyse the aesthetics of the unfamiliar and the ways of learning to move through and see the environment anew. The new, yet unknown, rhythms of the Nile foreclosed certain routines and practices but also afforded new possibilities of movement, linkages and ways of knowing. River vessels became the main means of transport and travel. By focusing on local attempts of wayfinding and the creation of new paths and routes on and along the ever-growing reservoir, I explore the work of infrastructuring and sensing the unfamiliar as a way of re-inhabiting radical changing environments. After a short introduction, I will present an experimental audio-visual installation (work in progress) to reflect on multimodal formats as a way to examine sensory engagements.