Short Abstract

In this panel we invite ethnographic explorations on the material, moral, epistemological and symbolic horizons generated by contemporary extractivism in Africa.

Long Abstract

What kind of horizons - material or otherwise - does contemporary extractivism generate in Africa? If extractivism is notoriously embedded in ‘epistemic geologies’ (Baloji 2021) and teleological ‘gospels’ of development(alism), transition and sustainability, the question arises: beyond the horizons generated by the politico-economic assemblages of such projects, what other horizons, expectations, and desires emerge within and around their implantation (Allan 2024)? Beyond the visible, material dimensions of extractivist structures and infrastructures, what role do processes of in/visibility and concealment/revelation play from the perspective of those engaged (as actors or subjects) in the realm of extraction? Beyond the realms that ‘open’ and ‘expand’ in the extractivist imaginary, which other horizons become ‘enclosed’ or inaccessible’ (Malm and Esmailian 2012)? Which kind of prisms – angles, perspectives, reflections – emerge in such processes of transition into ‘extractive states’? This panel calls for empirical and ethographic contributions addressing contemporary mining and extractivism processes in Africa, in particular those concerned with the problematic intersection of ‘perspective’ and ‘expectation'. We are particularly interested in contributions that intersect the spatio-temporal material and immaterial dimensions of mineral matters, and more broadly extractive infrastructures. The panel includes comments by Prof. Lorenzo D’Angelo, while leaving ample room for a broader discussion among participants.

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