PhD candidate Rundong Ning has published “Patch-work: The economic and moral complementarity of informal entrepreneurs’ multiple projects in Congo-Brazzaville” in the journal Economic Anthropology based on his dissertation research. His work proposes the concept of “patch-work” to highlight the fact that Congolese entrepreneurs often work on multiple projects that bring in complementary economic returns and that have complementary moral meanings. This work thus reflects on work practices in informal economies and argues that middle-class entrepreneurs in Congo construct their working lives not solely for maximizing profits in cash but also for different forms of economic returns and moral values. This research project was funded by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and Yale University.
The article can be found here.