Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the practices of camouflaging, 'staging' and pretending carried out by the industrial company in Serbia to cover up the negative aspects of industrial production.

Paper long abstract:

The paper captures the moment when the state-run copper-processing company in Serbia, which used to be a prosperous socialist industrial "giant", after decades of decline during the 1990s and 2000s, promoted another 'revival' (of the company and the town) due to rise of copper price on the global market and due to the local political interventions. The paper illustrates three ethnographic examples when the industrial company (anchored in the town's social, economic and political life) camouflaged the negative aspects of industrial production. In particular, the paper focuses on the practices of disguising pollution, providing 'cleaner' image of the miners and mining landscapes and representing dilapidated town as a flourishing one. It argues that such practices of camouflaging, 'staging', and pretending served for carrying out back-door privatization of the company. The paper further argues that, in the post-socialist context, the state economic projects relied on such practices to achieve 'successful' outcomes.