Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:21:00.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

“This Mine is for the Entire Casamance Coastline”: The Politics of Scale and the Future of the Extractive Frontier in Casamance, Senegal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 October 2021

Ashley Fent Open the ORCID record for Ashley Fent [Opens in a new window]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

As evidenced by the widespread controversy surrounding an otherwise small-scale mining investment pending in Casamance, Senegal, uncertainty shapes the extension of the extractive frontier. Fent argues that amid this uncertainty, different actors are able to politicize or depoliticize extractive investments through the work of scaling. Opponents cast the project as part of larger-scale, longer-term extraction, linking it with regional narratives. By contrast, state and corporate actors depoliticized the mine by emphasizing its limited extent and downscaling conflict to the local level. This demonstrates the conflictual processes through which extractive frontiers are realized—and resisted—through both space and time.

Résumé

Résumé

Comme en témoigne la controverse généralisée autour d’un investissement minier d’échelle modeste et en attente en Casamance, au Sénégal, l’incertitude façonne l’extension de la frontière extractive. Fent fait valoir qu’au milieu de cette incertitude, différents acteurs sont en mesure de politiser ou de dépolitiser les investissements extractifs grâce à un travail de mise à l’échelle. Les opposants présentent le projet comme faisant partie d’une extraction à plus grande échelle et à plus long terme en le reliant aux récits régionaux. En revanche, les acteurs étatiques et corporatifs ont dépolitisé la mine en soulignant son étendue limitée et en réduisant le conflit au niveau local. Ceci démontre les processus conflictuels par lesquels les frontières extractives se réalisent - et se résistent - dans l’espace et le temps.

Resumo

Resumo

Conforme demonstra a ampla controvérsia em torno de um investimento mineiro de pequena escala pendente em Casamansa, Senegal, a extensão da fronteira extrativa é dominada pela incerteza. Segundo Fent, por entre esta incerteza, os vários atores conseguem politizar ou despolitizar os investimentos na indústria extrativa através da noção de escala. Os opositores consideram que o projeto faz parte de uma extração em larga escala e de longo prazo, vinculando-o a narrativas regionais. Pelo contrário, os atores estatais e corporativos despolitizaram a mina, realçando a sua pequena dimensão e enquadrando o conflito no contexto local. Assim, ficam demonstrados os processos conflituais através dos quais as fronteiras extrativas são concretizadas, bem como a resistência de que são alvo, ao longo do tempo e do espaço.

Keywords

landextractive industryminingscaleCasamanceSenegal
Type
Article
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. 628 - 652
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agnew, John. 1994. “The Territorial Trap: The Geographical Assumptions of International Relations Theory.” Review of International Political Economy 1 (1): 53–80.10.1080/09692299408434268CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appel, Hannah C. 2012a. “Offshore Work: Oil, Modularity, and the How of Capitalism in Equatorial Guinea.” American Ethnologist 39 (4): 692–709.10.1111/j.1548-1425.2012.01389.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Appel, Hannah C.. 2012b. “Walls and White Elephants: Oil Extraction, Responsibility, and Infrastructural Violence in Equatorial Guinea.” Ethnography 13 (4): 439–65.10.1177/1466138111435741CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Astron Senegal Operations Update.” 2017. Astron. http://www.astronlimited.com.au/AstronSite/media/ASX-Announcements/Senegal-update.pdf.Google Scholar
AuSenegal.com . 2014. “La Casamance refuse le projet zircon de Niafourang.” April 19. http://www.au-senegal.com/la-casamance-refuse-le-projet-zircon-de-niafourang,9607.html?lang=fr.Google Scholar
Barry, Boubacar. 1988. La Sénégambie du XVe au XIXe siècle: traite négrière, islam, et conquête coloniale. Paris: Éditions L’Harmattan.Google Scholar
Boone, Catherine. 2003. Political Topographies of the African State: Territorial Authority and Institutional Choice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511615597CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boone, Catherine. 2007. “Property and Constitutional Order: Land Tenure Reform and the Future of the African State.” African Affairs 106 (425): 557–86.10.1093/afraf/adm059CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brenner, Neil. 1999. “Beyond State-Centrism? Space, Territoriality, and Geographical Scale in Globalization Studies.” Theory and Society 28 (1): 39–78. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1006996806674.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brenner, Neil. 2001. “The Limits to Scale? Methodological Reflections on Scalar Structuration.” Progress in Human Geography 25 (4): 591–614.10.1191/030913201682688959CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmody, Pádraig. 2009. “Cruciform Sovereignty, Matrix Governance and the Scramble for Africa’s Oil: Insights from Chad and Sudan.” Political Geography 28 (6): 353–61.10.1016/j.polgeo.2009.09.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Carnegie Minerals Annual Report.” 2007. Carnegie Minerals.Google Scholar
Chung, Youjin B. 2020. “Governing a Liminal Land Deal: The Biopolitics and Necropolitics of Gender.” Antipode 52 (3): 722–41.10.1111/anti.12612CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coetzee, Mark. 2013. “Senegal Mineral Resources.” http://www.dmassocs.com/sites/default/files/5. Mark Coetzee - Senegal Mineral Resources - UK-Senegal Forum June 2013.pdf.Google Scholar
Cormier-Salem, M. C. 1993. “Désarroi et révolte en terre de Casamance.” Le Monde Diplomatique.Google Scholar
Cotula, Lorenzo. 2012. “The International Political Economy of the Global Land Rush: A Critical Appraisal of Trends, Scale, Geography and Drivers.” Journal of Peasant Studies 39 (3–4): 649–80.10.1080/03066150.2012.674940CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cotula, Lorenzo, Vermeulen, Sonja, Leonard, Rebeca, and Keeley, James. 2009. Land Grab or Development Opportunity? Agricultural Investment and International Land Deals in Africa. London/Rome: IIED/FAO/IFAD.Google Scholar
Cotula, Lorenzo, Oya, Carlos, Codjoe, Emmanuel A., Eid, Abdurehman, Kakraba-Ampeh, Mark, Keeley, James, Kidewa, Admasu Lokaley, Makwarimba, Melissa, Seide, Wondwosen Michago, Nasha, William Ole, Asare, Richard Owusu, and Rizzo, Matteo. 2014. “Testing Claims about Large Land Deals in Africa: Findings from a Multi-Country Study.” Journal of Development Studies 50 (7): 903–25.10.1080/00220388.2014.901501CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cust, James, and Mihalyi, David. 2017. “Evidence for a Presource Curse? Oil Discoveries, Elevated Expectations, and Growth Disappointments.” 8140. Policy Research Working Paper. Washington, D.C.: The World Bank Group. http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/517431499697641884/pdf/WPS8140.pdf.Google Scholar
Database of Global Administrative Areas. 2015. https://gadm.orgGoogle Scholar
d’Avignon, Robyn. 2018. “Shelf Projects: The Political Life of Exploration Geology in Senegal.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 4: 111–30.10.17351/ests2018.210CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Jong, Ferdinand. 1999. “Revelation and Secrecy: Cultural Models of Performance in the Casamance Revolt, Senegal.” Wageningen Disaster Studies Disaster Sites (4): 5–29. http://edepot.wur.nl/233662.Google Scholar
De, Jong, Ferdinand, , and Gasser, Geneviève. 2005. “Contested Casamance: Introduction.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 39 (2): 213–29.Google Scholar
Deets, Mark. 2016. “‘Grown-Ups on White Plastic Chairs:’ Soccer and Separatism in Senegal, 1969–2012.” History in Africa 43: 347–74.10.1017/hia.2015.25CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deininger, Klaus W., and Byerlee, Derek. 2011. Rising Global Interest in Farmland: Can It Yield Sustainable and Equitable Benefits? Washington D.C.: The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank.10.1596/978-0-8213-8591-3CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delaney, David, and Leitner, Helga. 1997. “The Political Construction of Scale.” Political Geography 16 (2): 93–97.10.1016/S0962-6298(96)00045-5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Descroix, Luc, and Marut, Jean-Claude. 2015. “L’exploitation des sables métallifères du littoral Casamançais (Sénégal): un projet à risques.” Regards géopolitiques 1 (3): 11–17. https://www.cms.fss.ulaval.ca/recherche/upload/hei/fichiers/cqeg_regards_geopolitiques_vol1no3hiver2015.pdf.Google Scholar
Diouf, Mamadou. 2001. Histoire du Sénégal: le modèle islamo-wolof et ses périphéries. Paris: Maisonneuve et Larose.Google Scholar
Dramé, Hassane. 1998. “Décentralisation et enjeux politiques. l’exemple du conflit casamançais (Sénégal).” Bulletin de LAPAD 16: 2–16.Google Scholar
Emel, Jody, Huber, Matthew T., and Makene, Madoshi H.. 2011. “Extracting sovereignty: Capital, territory, and gold mining in Tanzania.” Political Geography 30: 70–79.10.1016/j.polgeo.2010.12.007CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, Martin. 2003. “Ni Paix Ni Guerre: The Political Economy of Low-Level Conflict in the Casamance.” In Humanitarian Policy Group Report: Power, Livelihoods and Conflict: Case Studies in Political Economy Analysis for Humanitarian Action, edited by Collinson, Sarah, HPG Report, 37–52. London: Overseas Development Institute.Google Scholar
Evans, Martin. 2004. “Senegal: Mouvement des Forces Démocratiques de la Casamance (MDFC).” Africa Programme, Armed Non-State Actors Project Briefing Paper 04/02. Chatham House. https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/public/Research/Africa/bpmedec04.pdfGoogle Scholar
Fairbairn, Madeleine. 2013. “Indirect Dispossession: Domestic Power Imbalances and Foreign Access to Land in Mozambique.” Development and Change 44 (2): 335–56.10.1111/dech.12013CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FE Trustnet. 2008. “Carnegie Minerals Final Results.” https://www2.trustnet.com/Investments/ArticlePrint.aspx?id=200805070700488243TGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, James. 1994. The Anti-Politics Machine: “Development ,” Depoliticization, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Ferguson, James. 2005. “Seeing Like an Oil Company: Space, Security, and Global Capital in Neoliberal Africa.” American Anthropologist 107 (3), 377–82.10.1525/aa.2005.107.3.377CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, James. 2006. Global Shadows: Africa in the Neoliberal World Order. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Frynas, Jedrzej George, and Buur, Lars. 2020. “The Presource Curse in Africa: Economic and Political Effects of Anticipating Natural Resource Revenues.” Extractive Industries and Society in press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilberthorpe, Emma, and Rajak, Dinah. 2017. “The Anthropology of Extraction: Critical Perspectives on the Resource Curse.” The Journal of Development Studies 53 (2): 186–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gonzalez, Sara. 2006. “Scalar Narratives in Bilbao: A Cultural Politics of Scales Approach to the Study of Urban Policy.” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 30 (4): 836–57.10.1111/j.1468-2427.2006.00693.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Ruth. 2011. “Land Grabbing in Southern Africa: The Many Faces of the Investor Rush.” Review of African Political Economy 38 (128): 193–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Ruth, Edelman, Marc, Borras, Saturnino M. Jr. Scoones, Ian, White, Ben, and Wolford, Wendy. 2015. “Resistance, Acquiescence or Incorporation? An Introduction to Land Grabbing and Political Reactions ‘from Below.’” Journal of Peasant Studies 42 (3-4): 467–88.10.1080/03066150.2015.1036746CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hesseling, Gerti. 1994. “La terre, à qui est-elle? les pratiques foncières en Basse-Casamance.” In Comprendre la Casamance: chronique d’une intégration contrastée, edited by Barbier-Wiesser, F.G., 243–62. Paris: Karthala.Google Scholar
Jones, Katherine T. 1998. “Scale as Epistemology.” Political Geography 17 (I): 25–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kandel, Matt. 2015. “Politics from Below? Small-, Mid-, and Large-scale Land Dispossession in Teso, Uganda, and the Relevance of Scale.” Journal of Peasant Studies 42 (3–4): 635–52.10.1080/03066150.2015.1016918CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klinger, Julie Michelle. 2017. Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Kurtz, Hilda E. 2003. “Scale Frames and Counter-Scale Frames: Constructing the Problem of Environmental Injustice.” Political Geography 22 (8): 887–916.10.1016/j.polgeo.2003.09.001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, Michael C. 1998. “Violence and the War of Words: Ethnicity v. Nationalism in the Casamance.” Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 68 (4): 585–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levien, Michael. 2013. “The Politics of Dispossession: Theorizing India’s ‘Land Wars.’” Politics & Society 41 (3): 351–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Li, Fabiana. 2015. Unearthing Conflict: Corporate Mining, Activism, and Expertise in Peru. Durham, North Carolina: Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Mark, Peter. 1985. A Cultural, Economic, and Religious History of the Basse Casamance since 1500. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag Wiesbaden GmbH.Google Scholar
Martiniello, Giuliano. 2015. “Social struggles in Uganda’s Acholiland: understanding responses and resistance to Amuru sugar works.” Journal of Peasant Studies 42 (3–4): 653–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marut, Jean Claude. 1995. “Les représentations territoriales comme enjeux de pouvoir : la différence casamançaise.” Conference proceedings for “Le territoire, lien ou frontière? Identités, conflits ethniques, enjeux et recompositions territoriales,” Office de la recherche scientifique et technique outre-mer. Paris, October 2–4, 1995.Google Scholar
Marut, Jean-Claude. 2005. “Les racines mondiales du particularisme casamançais.” Canadian Journal of African Studies 39 (2): 315–39.Google Scholar
Marut, Jean-Claude. 2010. Le conflit de Casamance: ce que disent les armes. Paris: Editions KARTHALA.Google Scholar
Mbembe, Achille. 2001. On the Postcolony. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
McCarthy, James. 2005. “Scale, Sovereignty, and Strategy in Environmental Governance.” Antipode 37 (4): 731–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nevins, Joseph. 2004. “Contesting the Boundaries of International Justice: State Countermapping and Offshore Resource Struggles Between East Timor and Australia.” Economic Geography 80 (1): 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
“Niafarang Mineral Sands Project.” 2021. Astron. https://astronlimited.com.au/astron-mineral-sands-projects/niafarang-mineral-sands-project/Google Scholar
Pélissier, Paul. 1966. Les paysans du Sénégal: les civilisations agraires du Cayor à la Casamance. Saint-Yrieix (Haute-Vienne): Imprimerie Fabrègue.Google Scholar
Peluso, Nancy Lee, and Lund, Christian. 2011. “New Frontiers of Land Control: Introduction.” Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (4): 667–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rajak, Dinah. 2014. “Corporate Memory: Historical Revisionism, Legitimation and the Invention of Tradition in a Multinational Mining Company.” PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review 37 (2): 259–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, , , Kristin. 2009. Crude Existence: Environment and the Politics of Oil in Northern Angola. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
République, du Sénégal. 2013. Arrêté Ministériel n°14139 en date du 30 août 2013.Google Scholar
Schattschneider, E. E. 1960. The Semisovereign People: A Realist’s View of Democracy in America. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.Google Scholar
Scott, James C. 1998. Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Senanayake, , , Nari, and King, Brian. 2020 (forthcoming). “Geographies of Uncertainty.” Geoforum in press.10.1016/j.geoforum.2020.07.016CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Neil. 1992. “Contours of a Spatialized Politics: Homeless Vehicles and the Production of Geographical Scale.” Social Text 33: 54–81.10.2307/466434CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Towers, George. 2000. “Applying the Political Geography of Scale: Grassroots Strategies and Environmental Justice.” The Professional Geographer 52 (1): 23–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. 2005. Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection. Princeton: Princeton University Press.10.1515/9781400830596CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welker, Marina A. 2009. “‘Corporate Security Begins in the Community’: Mining, the Corporate Social Responsibility Industry, and Environmental Advocacy in Indonesia.” Cultural Anthropology 24 (1), 142–79.10.1111/j.1548-1360.2009.00029.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Welker, Marina. 2014. Enacting the Corporation : an American Mining Firm in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Weszkalnys, Gisa. 2014. “Anticipating Oil: The Temporal Politics of a Disaster Yet to Come.” The Sociological Review 62 (1_suppl), 211–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weszkalnys, Gisa. 2015. “Geology, Potentiality, Speculation: On the Indeterminacy of First Oil.” Cultural Anthropology 30 (4), 611–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wittekind, Courtney T. 2018. “Road Plans and Planned Roads: Entangled Geographies, Spatiotemporal Frames, and Territorial Claims-Making in Myanmar’s Southern Shan State.” Journal of Burma Studies 22 (2): 273–319.10.1353/jbs.2018.0014CrossRefGoogle Scholar