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In Culture and Conflicts in Sierra Leone Mining: Strangers, Aliens, Spirits, the author uses Sierra Leone as a case study to contribute to the debates on the causes and nature of mineral resource conflicts in Africa. Unlike many works that focus on the political economy and political ecology of large-scale diamond mining conflicts, this book’s goal is to add to the limited literature on the persistent discord in mining areas. In so doing, the book integrates cultural conflict dimensions in analyzing the mineral commodity chain, primarily the clash between the centuries-old customary landlord-stranger land governance institution and state mining laws with colonial vestiges. It shows that these cultural conflicts challenge the effective development of the mining sector, including establishing artisanal mining as a viable complementary livelihood to farming for rural populations.
“Akiwumi delves deep into the cultural milieu in which competition for land and mining rights pitches the postcolonial state against customary authority. Only now do we see clearly that the fight over resources in Africa is stewed in the internal and external idioms of class, power, ethnicity, gender, nativity, identity, and spirituality.” —Raphael Njoku, Idaho State University, USA.
List of Figures and Tables; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; 1.Introduction: Culture in Commodity Chains; 2.Sierra Leone’s Global Incorporation Through Mining; 3.Cultural Difference: Policy and Legislative Dilemmas; 4.Sacred Places: Local Ontology Meets Global Capital; 5.Strangers, Environment, and Livelihoods; 6.Race, Ethnicity, Class, and Gender in Mining; 7.Between a Rock and a Hard Place; 8.Conclusion; References; Index