Universität zu Köln

Schmidt, Mario (2019). 'Almost everybody does it horizontal ellipsis ' gambling as future-making in Western Kenya. J. East. Afr. Stud., 13 (4). S. 739 - 758. ABINGDON: ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD. ISSN 1753-1063

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Abstract

This article discusses how Western Kenyans imagine and plan their futures in contrasting ways with a focus on three different gambling practices observed in a cluster of patrilineal homesteads. While participating in the national lottery entails an understanding of the future as organized by other actors and as, in principle, projectable, I analyse the practice of regularly placing low-risk bets on football games as a consequence of negating the possibility to plan one's future in the long term. I lay bare a third conceptualization of the future by closely examining a betting 'system' one of my interlocutor had developed to hit a weekly jackpot. This conceptualization assumes that the future unfolds in ways that are, although very difficult to grasp, laid out in the present. The article concludes by distinguishing three ways in which gambling deals with the future, i.e. how it disclaims, upscales and invents the certainty of the future.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Schmidt, Mario UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-137425
DOI:	10.1080/17531055.2019.1635818
Journal or Publication Title:	J. East. Afr. Stud.
Volume:	13
Number:	4
Page Range:	S. 739 - 758
Date:	2019
Publisher:	ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
Place of Publication:	ABINGDON
ISSN:	1753-1063
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language UNCERTAINTY; ECONOMY; MONEY Multiple languages Area Studies; Social Sciences, Interdisciplinary Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/13742