Location: Boren Hall 153
E-mail: dcmains@ou.edu
Phone: 405.325.3615
Education
- Ph.D., Anthropology, Emory University
- M.A., Anthropology, Emory University
- B.S., Philosophy, Lewis & Clark College
Daniel Mains’ research and writing explores the intersection between culture and economics in urban Africa. He is the author of Hope is Cut: Youth, Unemployment, and the Future in Urban Ethiopia (2012). Hope is Cut examines how young men in urban Ethiopia negotiate the gap between their desires for the future and economic realities. His second book, Under Construction: Technologies of Development in Urban Ethiopia (2019) examines the relationship between development and governance through an exploration of conflicts surrounding the construction of roads, hydroelectric dams, and other forms of infrastructure. Dr. Mains was a Fulbright Fellow in Hawassa, Ethiopia (2013 – 2014) and a Humboldt Fellow in Berlin, Germany (2017 - 2018).
Research interests
- Ethiopia
- Urban Infrastructure
- Youth Cultures
- Capitalism
- International Development
Courses taught
- HON 2970 Globalizing Africa
- HON 2970 Culture, Power, and International Development
- HON 3993 Cultures and Capitalisms
- HON 3993 Global Youth Cultures
Links
- Hope is Cut: Youth, Unemployment and The Future in Urban Ethiopia. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 2012.
- Friends and Money: Balancing Affection and Reciprocity among Young Men in Urban Ethiopia. American Ethnologist. 40(2):335-346. 2013.
- Blackouts and Progress: Privatization, Infrastructure, and a Developmentalist State in Jimma, Ethiopia. Cultural Anthropology. 27(1):3-27. 2012.
- Neoliberal Times: Progress, Boredom, and Shame among Young Men in Urban Ethiopia. American Ethnologist. 34(4):659-673. 2007.
- Cynicism and Hope: Urban Youth and Relations of Power During the 2005 Ethiopian National Election. In Contested Power: Traditional Authorities and Elections in Ethiopia. Tobias Hagmann and Kjetil Tronvoll, ed. Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers. 2012.
- Governing Three-wheeled Motorcycle Taxis in Urban Ethiopia: States, Markets and Moral Discourses of Infrastructure. American Ethnologist. 44(2):263-274. 2017. (co-authored with Eshetayehu Kinfu)
- Making the City of Nations and Nationalities: The Politics of Ethnicity and Roads in Hawassa, Ethiopia. Journal of Modern African Studies. 54(4):645-669. 2016. (co-authored with Eshetayehu Kinfu)
