Obscure Capital and Containers

Professor Bernault will explore the history of containers in Central Africa. Serving as bridges between domestic and public power, personal accumulation of wealth, and market dynamics, imported wooden trunks, suitcases, wooden crates and metal canteens have been integral to the region's trade routes since the 16th century. Special coffers were used to carry goods for buying slaves, and wealthy families stored riches in imported trunks.

After the 1850s, foreign visitors brought new technologies like phonographs, electric dynamos, and magnets to Central Africa, showcasing them to "dazzle the natives" (Larkin 2008). These strategies and devices reflected the old Central African methods to create magical charms using techniques of invisibility and concealment.

Professor Bernault builds on this to introduce the concept of "obscure capital," a type of wealth built on accumulation and secrecy. She suggests that examining containers and capital in Central Africa can help us understand the complex and hidden forms of modern capitalism. In addition to the more visible financial assets traded online, less transparent and slower forms of capital, like the vast trade in containers and the presence of national safes, continue to significantly influence economic systems and societies in ways that often go unnoticed.
The event will be held at the African Studies Centre in Leiden.