Paper short abstract:

In this paper I juxtapose the world views and the circulations of a group of Javanese migrant workers and of a cohort of young Acehnese men who have been involved in the exploitation of semi-precious gemstones and gold in the post-tsunami and post-conflict district of Aceh Jaya (Indonesia).

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I juxtapose the world views and the circulations of a group of Javanese migrant workers and of a cohort of young Acehnese men who have been involved in the exploitation of semi-precious gemstones and gold in the post-tsunami and post-conflict district of Aceh Jaya (Indonesia). The Acehnese informal mining pattern and its cyclical downturns encourage divergent paths of circulation, are supported by antithetical views about work and underpin uneven contingencies among individuals. For instance, the Javanese miners' pre-existing skills infuse adaptability to the bitterness of work, proficiency in handling the ore body, perseverance in achieving prosperity through gold and resilience to the decline in the mineral recovering, that is, macro-mobility to other gold rushes across Indonesia. Yet the Acehnese gold attracts many unskilled men living in the surroundings of the mineshafts, who can't afford to sink a gold mine on their own and join the inland communities of the established migrant staff. To cope with the precariousness of their condition, they zigzag between farming rice and other crops (the Acehnese moral and economic foundation) and hunting for minerals, following trajectories of micro-circulation around the region and regarding their position amid the mining system as temporary and disposable. Accordingly, they envision to free themselves from the entanglements of the natural resources and to become wealthier with the help of civil service or wage labour. Besides, they are also ready to be moved to Malaysia, joining the established Acehnese diaspora across the Strait.