Anna Frohn Pedersen
Extractivism and Transition Research Online Dialogues (ETROD)
online
sign up via email to janine.hauer@zirs.uni-halle.de
In this session Anna Frohn Pedersen will provide insights into her research on artisanal gold mining in Tanzania. In her PhD project Anna conducted ethnographic research in a mining village in the northern part of Tanzania. In an attempt to find adequate forms of representing the miners’ (self)understanding of their work and lives, Anna engaged in participatory film-making in addition to her research papers. In this session we are going to discuss two different outputs from her research: a film and a research paper that both deal with the risks, challenges and uncertainty that are embedded in mining but also the hopes and dreams it invokes.
Please find the film here: https://filmfreeway.com/projects/2340806. Password is Nyarugusu2019
This film is about gold — a global commodity shaping local livelihoods and landscapes across the world. It is about the people who risk their lives in the narrow underground mines and about their struggles for a better future. It is a participatory project that aims to move beyond an ethnocentric gaze on mining, giving voice to local perspectives and portraying the everyday as it is lived in Nyarugusu, a mining village in the northern part of Tanzania. Raphael Msya and Robert Mwenda, two miners from Nyarugusu, are the reporters, interviewing fellow miners and guiding us through the gold mining landscape – from the humid underground tunnels to the dusty processing sites. They not only show us the risks, challenges and uncertainty that are embedded in mining but also the hopes and dreams it invokes. Their stories highlight the ambiguity of a sector that is degrading landscapes and endangering lives, but at the same time crucial for providing a livelihood.
To receive the paper that is currently under review, please drop a mail to janine.hauer@zirs.uni-halle.de