
In the 21st century, night work is inextricably linked to precarity, everyday survival, and global inequalities. Yet night workers and the spaces in which they operate remain largely invisible in public debate. Nevertheless, their labor is essential to sustaining 24/7 cities and, more broadly, the reproduction of (neoliberal) urban governance. Beyond these associated themes, we invite the group to explore how darkness and labor can be conceptually and empirically connected in diverse and geographically situated ways.
Aims
Potential contributions might bring the broad, interdisciplinary field of nightlife studies into dialogue with other domains relevant to “night working,” such as labor studies, migration, mobility, intersectional identity, and governance. The following list of questions is intended to provoke thought and guide the group in further exploring the connections between labor and darkness:
- How has night work traditionally been understood within nightlife studies? What meanings of work/labor have been used so far? Can we propose alternative understandings of both work and night?
- How is labor performed—formally and informally—during nighttime hours? What implications does night work have for the personal, psychological, and emotional well-being of night workers?
- How are urban governance and moral geographies reproduced through the labor/non-labor divide between day and night? How are cities (and neoliberal arrangements) structured and sustained through this work/consumption relationship?
- What can we learn from comparing culturally and politically diverse urban contexts? Do differing cultural understandings of the night offer alternative perspectives on what constitutes “night work”?
- Can studies conducted beyond urban contexts (e.g., rural settings) offer new insights into the relationship between labor and darkness?
- What forms of (in)visibility are produced through the labor-darkness-night nexus, and how can we methodologically capture them?
- How are past, present, and future understandings of night work connected over time? How can we construct genealogically informed analyses of labor during the night?
- In the context of ongoing cycles of social, economic, and political crises affecting cities worldwide, what futures can we envision for night work? How have night workers and night-work spaces been impacted by these recurring crises?
- How does the platformization of labor (e.g., food delivery, ride-hailing, sex work mediation) reshape the temporalities and spatialities of night work? In what ways do digital platforms mediate access to and experiences of night labor, and how do they contribute to new forms of control, autonomy, and invisibility?
Activities
Modalities and training
- TBC
Leader: Begoña Aramayona 2024-2026
Former Leader: Julius-Cezar MacQuarie 2019-2024
