Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftliche Fakultät - Institut für Asien- und Afrikawissenschaften

The workshop is the first event of the DFG project “Invisible Connections: Transdomesticity of Households in Global Comparison” (2026-2029). The project examines the diverse forms of households in urban contexts of the Global South—Nairobi (Kenya), Karachi (Pakistan), and Phnom Penh (Cambodia)—as well as in Berlin, serving as a decolonial counterpoint. It challenges conventional definitions of households as spatially bounded units of cohabitation and shared economy that are limited to the nuclear family. The study conceptualizes households as transdomestic collectives: multilocal, fluid entities shaped by both visible and invisible contributions to social reproduction. These include, for example, care work, financial support, spiritual practices, and digitally mediated services. 

 

In this first workshop of the project, mostly experts on Karachi will present their knowledge with a focus on households and their sociocultural embeddedness. 

 

The presentations will take one hour including discussion.