Through nine ethnographic case-studies,Edges of Global Transformation explores situations where global transformations associated with neoliberalism meet local realities. The edge of transformation is characterized by uncertainty, as old patterns are consumed and new formed. The nine case studies from Africa, Europe and the Middle East shed light on how uncertainty plays an inevitable and essential role in the grey zone between macro-transformations and local responses. Despite the tremendous difference in precariousness between these cases, each contributor explores ways in which transformations are conceived and acted upon within the space of possibility that is opened and apprehended locally. The role of uncertainty as an active force is explored throughout the book. While in some cases, uncertainty has a clear restricting effect; other cases illustrate its potential as a productive force. As a contribution to understanding the dynamic of the local realities of global change, the book will be valuable reading for anyone interested in globalization and the neoliberal world order.

Håkon Fyhn is senior researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Harald Aspen is associate professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
Anne Kathrine Larsen is associate professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Chapter 1: Building Creatures of Uncertainty: Crisis, Storytelling and Othering in the Norwegian Building Industry by Håkon Fyhn
Chapter 2: The Perfect Subject and its Discontents: Central Europe at a Crossroad by Martin Thomassen
Chapter 3: Protection as a Strategy: The Response of Bedouin Village Women to the Development of Dubai by Anne Kathrine Larsen
Chapter 4: Localizing Ontologies of Uncertainty in Neoliberal Tanzania by Liv Haram
Chapter 5: Aggravated Uncertainty: The Dubious Influence of a Modern Management Regime on Lake Chad Fisheries by Bjørn Arntsen
Chapter 6: Vulnerability and Trust: Migrants in Search of a Better Position in Urban Northern Cameroon by Trond Waage
Chapter 7: State, Peasant Society and Modernization in Ethiopia by Harald Aspen
Chapter 8: Globally Designed Accountability and Local Social Inequality; A Case Study of Two Maternal Deaths in Tanzania by Siri Lange, Dorcas Mfaume and Astrid Blystad
Chapter 9: Well-Being, Healthcare and Development in Turkana: Pre and Post Devolution by Marianna Betti