'Ruptures and Riches' workshop report

The ASCL hosted the highly inspiring two-day workshop Ruptures and Riches: A Multidisciplinary Exploration of African Mineral Resource Extraction, organised by African Studies Research Master students, on 20 and 21 March. The event gathered 16 speakers from diverse academic backgrounds to explore the complex legacies and realities of mineral extraction in Africa.

Participants engaged in diverse discussions ranging from colonial-era mining to emergent green technologies, slowly coming to the realisation of the dual impact of resource extraction: on the one hand, its power to generate wealth and social mobility - on the other, its resulting environmental degradation, systemic inequality, and deep social disruptions. Themes like colonial exploitation, racialised labour systems, and the underrecognised role of animals in historical economies were brought up in multiple occasions throughout the workshop. 

A special event was the presentation by Rita Kesselring (University of St. Gallen) of her compelling new book, Extraction, Global Commodity Trade, and Urban Development in Zambia's Northwestern Province: An Ethnography of Inequality and Interdependence (the ebook editions of this book are available open access through Bloomsbury Collections).

Maaike Rozema, PhD candidate in the Boom2Dust research project, wrote an all-encompassing conference report for the Boom2Dust Blog, including key takeaways!

Read the full blog here.

Photo: Research Master student Christiana Banja presenting on mining in Sierra Leone.