Camouflage: the hunting origins of worlding in Africa

Abstract

Much recent literature has explored the vibrancy of African urban life, and how, despite the pervasive uncertainty, people develop means of operating on the scale of the world (to 'world' themselves). To what extent, however, are the exigencies of worlding from Africa determined by urbanity? This article provides comparative material, focusing on worlding in one of the continent's most remote locales, the northeastern borderlands of the Central African Republic (CAR). Through the case of armed conservation, I show that worlding requires camouflage, a hunting skill that entails learning about your surroundings and orienting yourself so you do not stick out. Surroundings in this sense are not just material/geographic, but also social and regulatory. I argue thus that hunting practices underlie worlding, and that doings in remote spaces, as much as in cities, have been a source of creativity as regards the furtherance of careers across scales.