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- Convenors:
-
Rita Kesselring
(University of St. Gallen)
Alexander Caramento (Trent University)
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- Format:
- Panels
- Location:
- KH209
- Start time:
- 30 June, 2017 at
Time zone: Europe/Zurich
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
The panel looks at the (infra)structures of extraction in Africa and their consequences on local life-words. We have a particular interest in the effects of recent changes in international capital on local infrastructures.
Long Abstract:
While the primary impetus for mining companies is the extraction of natural resources, they still need a certain level of infrastructure to conduct their business profitably. On the one hand, they rely on what the host country offers them, for instance labour, transport infrastructure, and a more or less favourable tax system. On the other hand, companies are forced to put up new structures to run operations as smoothly as possible, such as housing, roads, logistical networks, electricity grids, pipelines, and to display some modicum of "corporate citizenship." While such new (infra)structures serve extractive capitalism, they simultaneously change society in unexpected ways.
The panel looks at the (infra)structures of extraction in Africa and their consequences by bringing together the notions of extractivism and infrastructure (broadly defined).
We invite papers which empirically explore the intricacies of extraction from the perspective of those who will be living in the countries of extraction beyond the lifespan of a mine. We are particularly interested in papers that explore the effects of changes in international capital on local infrastructures - such as the differences between state and private companies, the role of shareholder capitalism and the financialization of commodity trading.
It is our intention to arrive at a better understanding of the ways in which infrastructure relates to the complex structures of accumulation, exchange and consumption that constitute the various systems of extraction on the African continent. To do so, the panel combines perspectives from political economy with anthropological approaches to the study of (infra)structures.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
Based on findings on recently “closed” mining towns in Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana, we will develop a critical approach to the analysis of mine closure, focusing on changing control over infrastructure and its implications for political participation.
Paper long abstract:
Since the end of the mining boom in the aftermath of the subprime crisis, and enforced by the fact that at least 25 major mines in the Global South were already scheduled for closure before the mining boom started in the early 2000s, mine closure has become an increasingly important issue. Research in Guinea, Ghana and Burkina Faso revealed the particularly critical situation in the mining towns of Fria, Obuasi and Kalsaka whose mines closed recently. Since then, social services and infrastructure collapsed and the cities experienced a profound economic downturn. This situation is similar to a least a dozen other African mining towns. Based on our own research we will present a critical approach towards mine closure.
Almost all of the existing literature on mine closure focuses on the so-called "business case", underlining the economic viability of "proper mine closure" for companies and governments (World Bank/ IMF 2002). This includes crucial demands such as the "de-enclaving" of infrastructure or the creation of restoration funds already when founding mining towns.
However, a critical analysis has to go beyond these "technical" recommendations in order to equally question the "political sustainability" of mining towns in the wake of a new ("light") paternalism based on CSR and shareholder capitalism as well as the rise of investors from newly industrializing countries. The notion of "infrastructural power" (Mann 1984; Agnew 2005) will provide a starting point for the analysis of these new configurations.
Paper short abstract:
This paper explores the ways in which infrastructures of extraction can be a central device for disciplining labour in the process of extraction. The paper also explores the different ways that workers try to undermine the rules or social order created by the mining companies.
Paper long abstract:
Before the development of Lumwana, Kansanshi and Kalumbila mines, North western province was a predominantly rural, sparsely populated, area and had very little infrastructure. In order to attract skilled labour and conduct their business profitably, the two mining companies built new roads, housing, schools, hospitals etc. While the new (infra) structure serves the objectives of the new companies, it also implies a strong control over the everyday life of workers as well as restrictions on visitors. In addition, facilities such as education and health, provided by the mining companies are quite expensive for most of the workers.
This paper will explore the social order that new mining companies attempt to create in these remote rural places through infrastructure e.g. housing. How is infrastructure/space used as a device for disciplining workers and accumulating capital? How far does it contribute to social differentiation and exclusion? And in what ways do workers appropriate, change, or resist to the material, social, and legal order imposed by mining companies? This paper will take the deeply embedded nature of housing and infrastructure in the everyday life of mine workers as a lens for understanding the social consequences of mining capitalism in Central Africa.
Paper short abstract:
This paper focuses on the railroads that facilitate the transportation of coal from the mines to seaports in Mozambique and analyzes how these railroads have become the locus of contestation and (violent) conflict.
Paper long abstract:
This paper analyzes extractive infrastructures and their consequences on local life-worlds by focusing on the railways that facilitate the transportation of coal from the mines in Tete, a province in the interior of central Mozambique, to the coastal ports. These railways entail a promise of "development" and connection, but they have also become the locus of contestation and (violent) conflict. The railway infrastructure is central to success of the coal production in Tete, but it is also its most vulnerable aspect: popular protests against the mining companies have focused on blocking the railroads and armed combatants have attacked several coal trains in 2016 effectively obstructing the transportation. The transportation of coal has thus become at the center of multiple conflicts between the mining companies and dislocated populations, and the Mozambican government and armed opposition groups.
Based on ethnographic research (2016-2017), the paper aims to analyze how the extractive infrastructure in central Mozambique has become the locus of contestation and violence. It considers at least three elements essential for analyzing this particular formation and usage of the railroads: 1) The materiality of coal and of rail-infrastructure, which can relatively easily be disrupted, and its consequences for governance and control (Mitchell 2009). 2) The multiplicity of political and technopolitical actors with often divergent interests, including mining companies, government (transportation) agencies, public and private security actors, travelers, etc. 3) The political and historical context of armed violence, political polarization and exclusion in central Mozambique.
Paper short abstract:
This paper examines processes of, and impediments to, indigenous capital formation among mine suppliers and contractors in Zambia’s Copperbelt and North Western Provinces.
Paper long abstract:
Over the past decade, a body of literature has emerged calling for the establishment of forward and backward linkages to resource extraction on the African continent. The expectation is that the formation of local value chains tied to processes of resource extraction and processing will create employment, develop technical capacities, encourage technology transfers, and ultimately lead to industrialization and economic diversification. But little is said of the possibilities for indigenous capital formation that might emerge in response to fostering backward linkages. Arguably, it is a class of local capitalists that stands to potentially benefit from "local content" policies. However, the implementation of such policies is complicated by a legacy of neoliberal structural adjustment that has devastated Africa's industrial capacity and transferred control of resource extraction into foreign, private ownership. Nowhere is this more apparent than in Zambia.
In Zambia, local mine suppliers and contractors have sought to secure more business from the copper mines. In response, Zambian policymakers have engaged in discussions around the feasibility of local content regulations, as part of a recent trend towards increasing "resource nationalism" in the governance of mineral extraction. Through an examination of the experiences of Zambian contractors and suppliers on the "new" (i.e. North Western Province) and "old" Copperbelts, this paper endeavors to address two key research questions. First, what are the patterns of indigenous capital formation in mine supply and contracting in neoliberal Zambia? Second, how have efforts to regulate mining firms over the past decade effected local mine suppliers and contractors?