WHO OWNS THE DIAMONDS? THE OCCULT ECO-NOMY OF DIAMOND MINING IN SIERRA LEONE

Author:

D'Angelo Lorenzo

Abstract

ABSTRACTMuch of the literature on Sierra Leonean diamonds focuses on the role that this mineral resource played in the recent civil conflict (1991–2002). However, the political-economic perspective that is common to these analyses has lost sight of the main actors in this social reality. What do miners think of diamonds? Like their Malagasy colleagues engaged in the search for sapphires, the Sierra Leonean diamond miners often maintain that they do not know what diamonds could possibly be used for. What is specific to the diamond mining areas in this West African country is that suspicions and fantasies about the uses of diamonds go hand in hand with the idea that these precious stones belong to invisible spiritual entities known locally as djinns ordεbul dεn. Although this article aims to analyse the occult imaginary of diamond miners, it takes a different stand from the occult economies approach. By combining a historical-imaginative perspective with a historical and ecological one, this article intends to highlight the indissoluble interweaving of material and imaginative processes of artisanal diamond production in the context of Sierra Leone's mines.

Publisher

Cambridge University Press (CUP)

Subject

Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous),Anthropology,Geography, Planning and Development

Reference62 articles.

1. Conteh J. S. (1979) ‘Diamond mining and Kono religious institutions: a study in social change’. PhD thesis, Indiana University.

2. Occult economies and the violence of abstraction: notes from the South African postcolony

3. Of Headhunters and Cannibals: Migrancy, Labor, and Consumption in the Mawri Imagination

4. Expectations of Modernity

Cited by 41 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. Hidden schemes and suspicious constructions. Inversive moments of occult infrastructures in Madagascar;Religion, State and Society;2024-05-23

2. ‘They are taking everything away from us’: autochthonous claims and the moral contestations over Chiadzwa diamonds, eastern Zimbabwe;Journal of Contemporary African Studies;2024-04-09

3. References;Subterranean Matters;2024-01-26

4. Notes;Subterranean Matters;2024-01-26

5. Afterword;Subterranean Matters;2024-01-26

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3