Occupying the Margins: Labour Integration and Social Exclusion in Artisanal Mining in Tanzania

Abstract

This article examines the marginal position of artisanal miners in sub‐Saharan Africa, and considers how they are incorporated into mineral sector change in the context of institutional and legal integration. Taking the case of diamond and gold mining in Tanzania, the concept of social exclusion is used to explore the consequences of marginalization on people's access to mineral resources and ability to make a living from artisanal mining. Because existing inequalities and forms of discrimination are ignored by the Tanzanian state, the institutionalization of mineral titles conceals social and power relations that perpetuate highly unequal access to resources. The article highlights the complexity of these processes, and shows that while legal integration can benefit certain wealthier categories of people, who fit into the model of an ‘entrepreneurial small‐scale miner’, for others adverse incorporation contributes to socio‐economic dependence, exploitation and insecurity. For the issue of marginality to be addressed within integration processes, the existence of local forms of organization, institutions and relationships, which underpin inequalities and discrimination, need to be recognized.

Going for gold: transitional livelihoods in Northern Ghana

“…The evidence in support of this is overwhelming: over the past two decades, countless studies (e.g. Fisher 2007;Banchirigah 2008) have emerged which capture how ASM, by generating direct employment and spawning downstream industries, has brought stability to scores of fragile, impoverished rural localities. This has led to calls (e.g.…”

Four decades of support for artisanal and small-scale mining in sub-Saharan Africa: A critical review

“…First, whilst there is little disputing that, by implementing SAPs and sweeping reforms, host African governments have created an 'enabling policy environment' for largescale gold mining, they have, at the same time, created the ideal policy conditions for the growth of illegal ASM activity. By the end of 1995, 36 African countries had implemented rigid policy frameworks and legislation with the aim of legalizing the industry-a move described by Chachage (1995, p. 47) as the 'officialization of hitherto illicit activities'-and/or had established sector-specific administrative and technical institutions to facilitate this, or were in the process of doing so (Fisher, 2007). But the hasty enactment of licensing systems, often with very little consideration for the people being targeted, suddenly made 'unregistered' artisanal and small-scale miners 'illegal'.…”

“…A poor understanding of the sector's role in the region's liberalized economies has certainly contributed to this oversight; as has the strong influence, at the policymaking level, of unfounded ideas and generalizations about the sector's activities. A growing body of evidence (Barry 1996;UNECA 2003;Fisher 2007) which points to ASM having alleviated significant rural hardship, reinvigorated deteriorating smallholder farming activities, catalyzed the growth of infrastructure and reduced rural-urban migration across sub-Saharan Africa has failed to energize a donor agenda that continues to promote archaic policies and measures to facilitate local economic development. After providing a brief overview of ASM in sub-Saharan Africa, the paper comes to grips with why the sector has yet to make a mark on the region's local economic development agenda and feature prominently in its poverty alleviation strategies.…”

Stadium Coltan : artisanal mining, reforms and social change in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

“…Reforms often create exclusion and marginalise certain groups of people (Fischer, 2007). Thus, our findings…”

“…Although the authors cited above are mostly concerned with providing analysis, criticism, wake-up calls and recommendations for reforming artisanal mining, many of them do not sufficiently address the questions of how mining reforms work in practice, what these reforms entail for people's livelihoods, which 'glocalized' 12 responses the reforms have elicited and to what extent they have contributed to socioeconomic recovery in artisanal mining areas. These issues deserve attention, especially as many mineral-rich countries in the Third World are witnessing a phenomenon of 'globalized miners' (Ballard and Banks, 2003: 294) because of increased privatisation, dispossession and exclusion (Bush, 2009;Fischer, 2007;Geenen, 2016).…”