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Paper short abstract

This paper aims to explore how the social identities of gender, age and ethnicity shape how artisanal and small-scale miners come together to collectively bargain for mining rights in Kenya.

Paper long abstract

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) constitutes a socio-economic space in which actors with diverse, overlapping and sometimes conflicting social identities converge, shaping access to and claims over mining rights. In an environment of constrained agency, where the state has mostly employed top-down approaches, I aim to unpack how artisanal and small-scale miners organise themselves to navigate this traditionally neglected sector.

On gender dynamics, women’s participation in ASM has increasingly taken place through collective action, evidenced by the emergence of women-only and women-majority mining groups in the region. This has contributed to shifting gendered power relations within a traditionally male-dominated and patriarchal sector. Preliminary findings reveal that women have been able to improve their status in the ASM spaces, through their grassroots organisations and the support of male allies and other of civil society organisations.

Findings on age reveal a more contradictory picture. Despite extensive literature highlighting the growing role of youth in ASM across Sub-Saharan Africa, youth participation in the study areas remains largely passive, prioritising alternative sources of livelihood like brokerage, transport and retail. This raises important questions about the future of ASM and the prospects of collective agency by the youth in a sector dominated by older generations.

Finally, competing legitimacies, rooted in indigeneity on one hand and long-term occupation and settlement on the other, influence miners’ perceptions of entitlement to land and mining rights. While ASM sites are often characterised as multicultural spaces, ethnic allegiances shape how miners organise collectively and define their priorities within mining spaces.