“It can lift someone from poverty”: Imagined futures in the Sierra Leonean diamond market

Abstract

This article aims to draw attention to the role of the future in artisanal mining. It argues that in order to understand the dynamics of artisanal mining, research must understand miners' imaginaries of a better future which inform their economic strategies in the present. Drawing on Jens Beckert's (2016) concepts of fictional expectations and imagined futures, the article investigates projections of the future and strategies of futuremaking in the Sierra Leonean diamond market. If these expectations remain poorly understood, development policies will not be able to address the needs of mining communities.

The presource curse in Africa: Economic and political effects of anticipating natural resource revenues

“…2 in Graham and Ovadia, 2019, in this journal), while metal ore exploration has also markedly increased across Africa (Kotze, 2019). Positive expectations of the future benefits of resource wealth are very high both among policy makers and local populations (Vokes, 2012;Kiiza et al, 2011;Engwicht, 2018;Mawejje, 2019). Therefore, it is likely that many new countries with future resource potential will experience negative effects of a presource curse without natural resource extraction.…”

Extraordinary Underground

“…Mining projects are frequently portrayed, and understood among supporters, as eliciting dream-like expectations of prosperity and a better future, documented among communities of diverse cultural and geographical backgrounds. This has been demonstrated in recent research addressing expectations toward modern mining projects (Filer & Macintyre, 2006;Pijpers, 2016;Engwicht, 2018;Haikola & Anshelm, 2018;Poelzer & Ejdemo, 2018;Wiegink, 2018). Moreover, it is intriguing that, as Wilson and Stammler (2016) observe in the context of Arctic mining, "expectations tend to be the same, no matter how many times such expectations have been disappointed, or opportunities wasted in other regions in the past" (Wilson & Stammler, 2016: 1;see further Wormbs, 2018).…”

How much do artisanal miners earn? An inquiry among Congolese gold miners

“…By studying how much miners earn, we assess the financial attractiveness of artisanal mining. The individual-level survey data further allow us to identify the determinants of miners' income (identity-based or merit-based) and test a claim that has been made in the ASM literature, namely that ASM -with its low barriers to entry and relatively egalitarian norms -has social levelling potential and provides an opportunity for upward mobility in a rural social landscape that is otherwise largely characterized by social immobility (Bryceson and Fisher, 2014;Bryceson and Geenen, 2016;Engwicht, 2018;Stoop and Verpoorten, 2020;Van Acker, 2005).…”