IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v51y2020i3p771-793.html

The Moral Politics of Gendered Labour in Artisanal Mining in Sierra Leone

Author

Listed:
  • Blair Rutherford

Abstract

Drawing on current anthropological approaches to labour, this article examines some of the moral politics mobilized around women and artisanal mining in policy‐inflected scholarship with reference to particular gold mining zones in Tonkolili district, Sierra Leone. In so doing, the article proposes that such a focus on labour not only allows one to appreciate how sentiments concerning (im)proper behaviour infuse wider policy proposals to amend social arrangements in regard to what is called ‘artisanal mining’, but it also offers insight into some of the enduring moral politics helping to constitute women as ‘family workers’ in the actual artisanal gold mining zones. The article suggests that examining the overlapping moral politics constituting women's labour practices provides a more supple understanding of the contested economic possibilities for women in this livelihood practice.

Suggested Citation

  • Blair Rutherford, 2020. "The Moral Politics of Gendered Labour in Artisanal Mining in Sierra Leone," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(3), pages 771-793, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:51:y:2020:i:3:p:771-793
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12584
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12584
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dech.12584?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, 2015. "The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10581.
    2. Andrew Grant, 2005. "Diamonds, Foreign Aid, and the Uncertain Prospects for Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Sierra Leone," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2005-49, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    3. Hilson, Gavin, 2017. "Shootings and burning excavators: Some rapid reflections on the Government of Ghana's handling of the informal Galamsey mining ‘menace’," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 109-116.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Abrefa Busia, Kwaku & Arthur-Holmes, Francis, 2024. "Women and gender in artisanal and small-scale mining: A review and future research directions," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Rutherford, Blair & Buss, Doris & Colaço, João Carlos, 2025. "Tracing gendered and classed dimension of formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining efforts in Mozambique," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Grant, J. Andrew & Wilhelm, Cindy, 2022. "A flash in the pan? Agential constructivist perspectives on local content, governance, and the large-scale mining–artisanal and small-scale mining interface in West Africa," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    2. Jan van Duppen, 2021. "Book review: The Botanical City," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 58(8), pages 1746-1750, June.
    3. Katherine Farley, 2022. "“We ain't never stolen a plant”: Livelihoods, property, and illegal ginseng harvesting in the Appalachian forest commons," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 9(2), pages 309-321, June.
    4. Jacqueline Fendt, 2025. "Writing Inquiry in a Post-Truth World: An Essay in Voice, Method, and Meaning," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-15, June.
    5. Dominic Piacentini, 2021. "Beside the berm: The convenience of roadside picking," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 8(2), pages 208-218, June.
    6. Seitz William Hutchins, 2016. "Stock market reactions to conflict diamond trading restrictions and controversies," Business and Politics, De Gruyter, vol. 18(1), pages 63-84, April.
    7. Letizia Bindi & Angelo Belliggiano, 2023. "A Highly Condensed Social Fact: Food Citizenship, Individual Responsibility, and Social Commitment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-22, April.
    8. Hager, Sandy Brian, 2024. "Tracking the Fortunes of Corporate Psychedelia," EconStor Preprints 312263, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    9. Janet McIntyre‐Mills, 2020. "The COVID‐19 era: No longer business as usual," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(5), pages 827-838, September.
    10. Chapman, Christopher, 2025. "Reifying risk and health: Cultural normativity, bureaucracy, and moral quandary in child abuse investigations in Japan," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 170(C).
    11. The Re‐Arrangements Collective & Fabien Cante & Ajmal Hussain & Timo Makori & Surer Qassim Mohamed & Alana Osbourne & Francesca Pilo’ & Kavita Ramakrishnan & AbdouMaliq Simone & Rike Sitas & Adeem Suh, 2023. "MOVEMENT 2. FORMALIZING ARRANGEMENTS: Re‐signification and the Making of Governable Spaces," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 471-482, May.
    12. Comi, Matt, 2018. "Rethinking Control: Complexity in Agri-environmental Governance Research," Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, Center for Transformative Action, Cornell University, vol. 8(3).
    13. Popan, Cosmin & Anaya-Boig, Esther, 2021. "The intersectional precarity of platform cycle delivery workers," SocArXiv tk6v8, Center for Open Science.
    14. Lisa Alvarado, 2019. "Institutional Change on a Conservationist Frontier: Local Responses to a Grabbing Process in the Name of Environmental Protection," Land, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-17, November.
    15. Katharine Legun & Karly Ann Burch & Laurens Klerkx, 2023. "Can a robot be an expert? The social meaning of skill and its expression through the prospect of autonomous AgTech," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(2), pages 501-517, June.
    16. Eriksson Madeleine & Tollefsen Aina, 2018. "The production of the rural landscape and its labour: The development of supply chain capitalism in the Swedish berry industry," Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series, Sciendo, vol. 40(40), pages 69-82, June.
    17. Claudia Matus & Pascale Bussenius & Pablo Herraz & Valentina Riberi & Manuel Prieto, 2021. "Nature Is for Trees, Culture Is for Humans: A Critical Reading of the IPCC Report," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-9, October.
    18. Mathias Decuypere & Hanne Hoet & Joke Vandenabeele, 2019. "Learning to Navigate (in) the Anthropocene," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-16, January.
    19. repec:caa:jnlcjf:v:preprint:id:158-2023-cjfs is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Hobson, Christopher, 2025. "Memes and monsters of the interregnum: Gramsci between the times," SocArXiv gzhrq_v1, Center for Open Science.
    21. Francis Xavier Dery Tuokuu & Uwafiokun Idemudia & Eugene B. G Bawelle & John Bosco Baguri Sumani, 2020. "Criminalization of “galamsey” and livelihoods in Ghana: Limits and consequences," Natural Resources Forum, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 44(1), pages 52-65, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:51:y:2020:i:3:p:771-793. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.