{"product_id":"a-ritual-geology-9781478018476","title":"A Ritual Geology","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSet against the ongoing corporate enclosure of West Africa’s goldfields, \u003ci\u003eA Ritual Geology\u003c\/i\u003e tells the untold history of one of the world’s oldest indigenous gold mining industries: Francophone West Africa’s \u003ci\u003eorpaillage\u003c\/i\u003e. Establishing African miners as producers of subterranean knowledge, Robyn d’Avignon uncovers a dynamic “ritual geology” of techniques and cosmological engagements with the earth developed by agrarian residents of gold-bearing rocks in savanna West Africa. Colonial and corporate exploration geology in the region was built upon the ritual knowledge, gold discoveries, and skilled labor of African miners even as states racialized African mining as archaic, criminal, and pagan. Spanning the medieval and imperial past to the postcolonial present, d’Avignon weaves together long-term ethnographic and oral historical work in southeastern Senegal with archival and archeological evidence from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivo\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“The foremost contribution of \u003ci\u003eA Ritual Geology\u003c\/i\u003e is the representation of African miners as intellectual actors. . . . \u003ci\u003eA Ritual Geology\u003c\/i\u003e is impressive. It is crucial reading for anthropologists and historians looking to understand decolonial methodologies. It should also find a readership among actors who intervene in mining worlds, be it as corporate employees, state officials or development agencies.” -- Dr Dagna Rams * LSE Review of Books *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"D’Avignon illuminates the complex narrative of African knowledge production and resource extraction using thick ethnographic descriptions, oral and life histories, and archival sources. ... [The] book is refreshing and provokes debates about African artisanal miners and local knowledge.\"\u003c\/p\u003e -- Jabulani Shaba * H-Environment, H-Net Reviews *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTable of Contents\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAcknowledgments  ix\u003cbr\u003e Orthographic Notes  xv\u003cbr\u003e Abbreviations  xvii\u003cbr\u003e Introduction. Geology and West African History  1\u003cbr\u003e 1. A Tale of Two Miners in Tinkoto, Senegal, 2014  29\u003cbr\u003e 2. West Africa’s Ritual Geology, 800–1900  58\u003cbr\u003e 3.Making Customary Mining in French West Africa  86\u003cbr\u003e 4. Colonial Geology and African Gold Discoveries  108\u003cbr\u003e 5. Mineral Mapping and the Global Cold War in Sénégal Oriental  129\u003cbr\u003e 6. A West African Language of Subterranean Rights  153\u003cbr\u003e 7. Race, Islam, and Ethnicity in the Pits  177\u003cbr\u003e Conclusion. Subterranean Granaries  201\u003cbr\u003e Glossary  207\u003cbr\u003e Notes  211\u003cbr\u003e Bibliography  259\u003cbr\u003e Index  295","brand":"Duke University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48867287957847,"sku":"9781478018476","price":19.79,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9781478018476.jpg?v=1722282610","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/a-ritual-geology-9781478018476","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}