Blog

Heterogeneity, methodological challenges, gender and the underground. These are some of central themes in this interview with Robert Pijpers about anthropological perspectives on (artisanal and small-scale) mining On June 13 2022, Gold Matters researcher and co-editor of the book ‘The Anthropology of Resource Extraction’ (Routledge, 2022), Robert Pijpers was interviewed by Oliver Tappe, an anthropologists based…
Read more

Januária Mello reflects on the literacy legacy of author Nenê Macaggi and the insight she gives to the gold migrant experience in the region of the Tepequem and Cotingo rivers of Brazil Januária Mello   One of the challenges of the Gold Matters Project is to bring art, in its various forms, closer to artisanal…
Read more

Gold miners debated the paramount important and uncertain drivers of ASGM in relation to sustainability and envisioned four worlds and one priority accordingly Esther van de Camp This painting visualizes four worlds that small-scale gold miners in Busia District, Uganda, have envisioned for 2042. The worlds cover the extremes of the most important and most…
Read more

After two years of virtual co-working, Gold Matters project members reunited for an end of project workshop held in mid-May at the Nordic African Institute in Uppsala, Sweden. At the workshop they explored their learning from the project and refined its key conclusions Luciana Massaro Finally, we met again! The Gold Matters members reunited after…
Read more

One day we will have left images and information that will allow people in the future to see where we are today and why they are who they are, in whatever future we have created for them. So, the photograph becomes part of cultural history in the making Nii Obodai works with photography, audio and…
Read more

Under the curatorship of Prof. Sabine Luning and with the participation of all members of the GM project, the virtual exhibition “Gold Matters – From Africa to the Amazon” captures images, aesthetics, and the description of mining landscapes, technologies, and actors Jorge Calvimontes and Luciana Massaro Contemporary challenges, such as climate and environmental change, the…
Read more

The Gold Matters project and the Infrastructure, Sustainability and Commons Lab of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam co-organized a panel on the relationship between small-scale gold mining and sustainability, taking place at the XVII International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic & Social Sustainability Luciana Massaro and Jesse Jonkman Coffee-breaks, social dinners, post-session drinks… It is often in…
Read more

In Christophe Sawadogo’s art projects co-labouring means teaming-up with artistic and artisanal experts of local communities to jointly address societal concerns Sabine Luning Christophe Sawadogo, a painter working in Ouagadougou, is a key member of the Gold Matters Team.  The themes of his artistic work, his commitment to address societal issues and his position on…
Read more

Technological innovation in ASGM does not only occur through voluntarist interventions aimed at promoting cleaner production, but also as a consequence of transformations in the political economy of resource extraction. In Burkina Faso, the diffusion of cyanide has determined a shift away from mercury-based processing techniques and reshaped the organization of production in artisanal mining…
Read more

Eleanor Fisher, lead researcher for the “Gold Matters” project, reflects on change to trans-disciplinary team working through the pandemic, underlining how we need all our energy, trans-disciplinary skills, and imaginations to capture opportunities for sustainable transformation. Our three year, “Gold Matters” project examines the potential for transformations to sustainability in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining…
Read more