Paper short abstract:

This paper focusing on the people, processes and discourses that claim to 'speak for' national and community interests in Africa, particularly in response to resource extraction.

Paper long abstract:

This paper focusing on the people, processes and discourses that claim to 'speak for' national and community interests in Africa, particularly in response to resource extraction. In response to scepticism as the representativeness of electoral politics, both mining companies and the international NGOs that oppose or engage them make claims to be acting in the communities' best interests and frequently engage 'community representatives'. Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Zambia's north western province and on its copperbelt this paper explores those whose who claim to speak on behalf of Zambia and its communities. It explores local MPs, international NGOs and their local partners, mine controlled Corporate Social Responsibility projects and urban based taxation and extraction think tanks. The paper argues that all these actors' claims to representation are problematic, but that this does not mean they should be discounted. Rather I propose a topology of representative legitimacy for environments where electoral representation cannot serve as the only legitimate form of 'speaking for'.