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The University of Edinburgh ‘Condition’: Energy, Time and Success Amongst Ethiopian Runners Michael Crawley A thesis submitted to the University of Edinburgh for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, November 2018. 1 Declaration I declare that this thesis, presented to the Univeristy of Edinburgh for the degree of PhD in International Development, has been composed solely by myself and that it has not been submitted, in whole or in part, in any previous application for a degree. Except where states otherwise by reference or acknowledgment, the work presented is entirely my own. The copyright for this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, permitted that full acknowledgement is made. 2 Abstract Long distance runners in East Africa are often portrayed in the international media as ‘naturally’ gifted or as running away from poverty. This thesis – that traces the athletic lives of Ethiopian long-distance runners seeking to ‘change their lives’ through the sport – presents a different account, demonstrating how runners operate in an economy of limited energy. Based on fifteen months of fieldwork (September 2015 to December 2016) that followed Ethiopian runners from rural training camps in the Northern highlands to Addis Ababa and further afield to competitions in Europe and China, the thesis makes a major contribution to the anthropology of economic action and to the anthropology of sport and development. Ethiopian long-distance runners are part of an increasingly competitive running market, which offers both new opportunities to make fantastic amounts of money and higher odds against doing so. The choice to become a runner is characterised by speculation and risk as well as the active rejection of other forms of precarious work, which runners perceive as failing to offer a ‘chance’ of changing your life for the better. As runners train together but compete as individuals, a core tension arises between relational and individual agency. As this thesis explores, this tension is played out across the moral economy of energy expenditure. The thesis develops this argument by paying particular attention to the bodily and affective dimensions of running, beginning on the level of individual concerns with self-improvement and the careful marshalling and monitoring of energy on a day- to-day basis. It goes on to argue that morally appropriate training regimes in Ethiopia are characterised by working together, and the visibility and synchronicity of running as well as eating and resting. Finally, the thesis shoes how global entities – corporations, race organisers, technical devices – affect the economy of energy in Ethiopia and bring new ethical challenges. As attempts to craft responsible and 3 entrepreneurial subjects coincide with long standing Amhara notions of the individual and ‘chance,’ different dispositions converge and diverge. Lay Summary This thesis is about the lives of the many young men in Ethiopia seeking to ‘change their lives’ through the sport of running. It describes how, in an increasingly competitive running market, runners struggle to manage their energy levels and social relationships in a way that will give them the best chance to succeed. The thesis is based upon fifteen months of research for which I lived and ran alongside a group of runners, following them from remote rural training camps in the highlands of Ethiopia to the capital city Addis Ababa, and further afield to races in Europe and China. 4 Table of Contents ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................................................... 3 LAY SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................... 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................................................... 7 PROLOGUE: AN ECONOMY OF LIMITED ENERGY ................................................................. 9 INTRODUCTION: ENERGY, ‘DEVELOPMENT’ AND THE SEARCH FOR ‘CONDITION’17 SPORT AND ‘DEVELOPMENT’ ....................................................................................................................... 22 SPORT, NEOLIBERALISM AND ETHICS OF THE SELF ................................................................................ 33 TEMPORALITIES OF HOPE AND PROGRESS ............................................................................................... 41 NAVIGATION, COMPETITION AND ACHIEVEMENT ................................................................................... 47 THE FIELDWORK ............................................................................................................................................ 48 DRAMATIS PERSONAE ................................................................................................................................... 55 THE CHAPTERS ............................................................................................................................................... 58 CHAPTER ONE: ‘CONDITION’ ................................................................................................... 62 HOW DOES CONDITION COME? ................................................................................................................... 64 C’ANA: CALIBRATING THE RIGHT TRAINING LOAD .................................................................................. 66 DRAWING ON ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES ........................................................................................... 69 ‘REPLACING WHAT YOU HAVE LOST’ ........................................................................................................ 73 TO EAT OR TO SLEEP? .................................................................................................................................. 75 ‘YOU HAVE TO DETACH YOURSELF’ ............................................................................................................. 78 ‘WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO CONTROL EMOTION?’ ...................................................................................... 82 A DELICATE BALANCE .................................................................................................................................. 84 WHAT IS ETHIOPIAN ABOUT RUNNING UP AND DOWN A HILL AT 3 O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING? 88 DANGER AND RISK ......................................................................................................................................... 90 CHAPTER TWO: ‘TRAINING ALONE IS JUST FOR HEALTH’: ENERGY, EFFICIENCY AND TRUST. .................................................................................................................................. 95 PACEMAKING AND SHARING THE BURDEN ............................................................................................... 97 WHEN PACEMAKING GOES WRONG ......................................................................................................... 101 FOOD .............................................................................................................................................................. 106 VISIBILITY, SYNCHRONICITY AND STOLEN ENERGY .............................................................................. 111 RUNNING AND INDIVIDUALISM ................................................................................................................. 115 CHAPTER THREE: ‘THIS IS BUSINESS’: ETHIOPIAN RUNNERS IN A GLOBAL MARKETPLACE. ......................................................................................................................... 118 FROM CONVERSION TO ADAPTATION ...................................................................................................... 119 NEW MODELS OF INDIVIDUALISM ............................................................................................................ 122 CULTIVATING A MORAL ECONOMY OF ‘DESERVING’ ............................................................................. 126 ‘NOT A SINGLE WORD’ ................................................................................................................................ 130 CREATING ‘CHANCE’ .................................................................................................................................... 135 SMALL RACES, SMALL MONEY .................................................................................................................. 137 ‘ALL ETHIOPIAN FEMALES NEED A MALE PACEMAKER’ .....................................................................