Dr. Robert Pijpers

• Natural resource extraction (large-scale and small-scale)
• Land use and land governance
• Rural development and rural livelihood strategies
• Temporality and the future
• Uncertainty
• Africa, with a focus on Sierra Leone and Ghana

Projects

2018- 2021 Artisanal gold mining, mobility and ideas of sustainable futures in Ghana. Project on mobility of people and technology, questions of belonging and (conflicting) ideas of sustainability and the future in the artisanal gold mining sector in Ghana.

2012-2018 Navigating uncertainty: Large-scale mining and micro-politics in Sierra Leone. Project on the various entanglements of large-scale mining in everyday life in Sierra Leone.

Articles

Luning, S. and Pijpers, R.J (2018). Shifting alliances in accessing the underground. Africa 2018, 88 (4): 876-880.

D´Angelo, L. and Pijpers, R.J. (2018). Mining Temporalities: An Overview. The Extractive Industries and Society 5 (2): 215-222. Special Issue edited by D´Angelo, L. and Pijpers, R.J. Mining Temporalities: Extractive Industries and the Politics of Time:  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2018.02.005

Luning, S. and Pijpers, R.J. (2017). Governing access to gold in Ghana: In-depth geopolitics on mining concessions. Africa 87 (4): 758-779.

Pijpers, R.J. (2016). Mining, expectations and turbulent times: locating accelerated change in rural Sierra Leone. History & Anthropology 27 (5): 504 – 520.

Pijpers, R.J. (2014). Crops and Carats: Exploring the Interconnectedness of Mining and Agriculture in Sub-Saharan Africa. Futures 62 (A): 32 - 39.

Pijpers, R.J. (2011). When diamonds go bust: contextualizing livelihood changes in rural Sierra Leone. Journal of International Development 23: 1068 – 1079.

Book chapters

Pijpers, R.J. (forthcoming). Lost glory or poor legacy? Mining pasts, future projects in rural Sierra Leone. In Gewald, J.B., Jansen, J. and Luning, S. (eds). Mining History: Corporate Strategies, Heritage and Development. Routledge Studies in Culture and Development.

Pijpers, R.J. and Eriksen, T.H. (2018). Introduction: Negotiating the multiple edges of mining encounters. In Pijpers, R.J. and Eriksen, T.H. (eds). Mining Encounters: Extractive Industries in an Overheated World. London: Pluto Press.

Pijpers, R.J. (2018).  Territories of contestation: Negotiating mining concessions in Sierra Leone. In Pijpers, R.J. and Eriksen, T.H. (eds). Mining Encounters: Extractive Industries in an Overheated World. London: Pluto Press.

Pijpers, R.J. (2017). I want to be a Millionaire: Survival, trust and deception in Sierra Leone’s economy of dreams. In Rooij, V., de (ed.). Anthropological knowledge on the move: Contributions from MA graduates at Dutch universities. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 135 – 153.

Pijpers, R.J. (2016). Politics of localness: claiming gains in rural Sierra Leone. In Eriksen, T.H. and Schober, E. (eds). Identity Destabilised: Living in an Overheated World. London: Pluto Press, pp. 153 – 170.

Pijpers, R.J. (2016). Box 2: The pitfalls of data collection – reflections from Sierra Leone. In Nolte, K., Chamberlain, W. and Giger, M. (eds). International Land Deals for Agriculture. Fresh insights from the Land Matrix: Analytical Report II. Bern, Montpellier, Hamburg, Pretoria: Centre for Development and Environment, University of Bern; Centre de coopération internationale en recherche agronomique pour le développement; German Institute of Global and Area Studies; University of Pretoria; Bern Open Publishing, pp: 5 – 6.

Pijpers, R.J. (2010). Busting diamonds, booming gold: crisis, gender and money in the Sierra Leone mining sector. In: Panella C. (eds.) Worlds of Debts: Gold Mining in West Africa as an Interdisciplinary Field of Study. Amsterdam: Rozenberg Publishers, pp. 79 –94.

Edited book

Pijpers, R.J. and Eriksen, T.H. (eds, 2018) Mining Encounters: Extractive Industries in an Overheated World. London: Pluto Press.

Edited special journal issue

D´Angelo, L. and Pijpers, R.J. (eds, 2018). Mining Temporalities: Extractive Industries and the Politics of Time. The Extractive Industries and Society 5 (2): 215-268.

Selected non-academic publications

Pijpers, R.J. (2018). Creating a story: Large-scale bioenergy production and its critics in Sierra Leone. Leiden Anthropology Blog: http://www.leidenanthropologyblog.nl/articles/creating-a-story-large-scale-bioenergy-production-and-its-critics-in-sierra

Pijpers, R.J. (2016). Shining diamonds: of global connections and local lifeworlds. Resource Worlds: http://resourceworlds.org/2016/09/12/resourceworlds/#more-28

Pijpers, R.J. (2015). Trust lies at the heart of making economic recovery more equitable for Sierra Leone after Ebola. The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/trust-lies-at-the-heart-of-making-economic-recovery-more-equitable-for-sierra-leone-after-ebola-45

Pijpers, R.J. (2014). Songs of ignorance. Open Democracy: https://opendemocracy.net/ robert-j-pijpers/songs-of-ignorance

Since 2018 Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Hamburg

2012- 2018 PhD Researcher, Department of Social Anthropology (SAI), University of Oslo, Norway. Dissertation  ‘Navigating Uncertainty: Large-Scale Mining and Micro-Politics in Sierra Leone’ focuses on social, environmental, economic and political changes in (rural) Sierra Leone in the context of large-scale mining

2017 Lecturer, Institute of Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology (CA&DS), Leiden University, The Netherlands

Since 2016 Co-founder and co-convenor of the AEGIS Collaborative Research Group ´Resource Extraction in Africa´.

Since 2016 Founder, moderator and editor of ´Resource Worlds: Social Explorations of Resource Extraction´. The website resourceworlds.org is established as a platform to disseminate social science research on resource extraction to a wider public.

2016 Visiting Doctoral Researcher, German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), Hamburg, Germany

Since 2015 Co-founder and co-convenor of  EASA `Anthropology of  Mining` Network

2015 Visiting PhD Research Fellow, Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, Sweden

2011-2012 Teaching Assistant, Institute of Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology (CA&DS), Leiden University, The Netherlands

2011-2012 Researcher, ActionAid, The Netherlands

2011 Trainee, SOMO 'Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations'. The Netherlands.

2009–2010 MA Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology, Leiden University, The Netherlands

2005–2009 BA Cultural Anthropology & Development Sociology (Major) and Social & Organizational Psychology (Minor), Leiden University, The Netherlands

2018               

• Stockholm, Sweden. Biannual Conference of EASA (panel convenor and presenter)
• Accra, Ghana. Workshop on researching and teaching resource extraction
• Utrecht, The Netherlands. Landac conference (presenter)
• Uppsala, Sweden. Nordic Africa Institute, workshop on the ´The Moral Economy in Africa´ (presenter)

2017               

• Oslo, Norway. Closing conference ‘overheating’ research project (presenter).

2016               

• Uppsala, Sweden. Seminar ´Artisanal and small-scale mining in Africa´ (presenter)
• Liege, Belgium. Seminar ´Mining booms & busts in Africa. Towards a comparative approach’ (presenter)
• Italy, Milan. Biannual Conference of EASA (panel convenor)
• Croatia, Dubrovnik. IUAES Conference (presenter and panel chair)

2015               

• USA, Denver. AAA Annual Conference (presenter)
• Finland, Helsinki. Conference of the Finish Anthropological Society (presenter)
• Norway, Oslo. Workshop on mining & accelerated change (workshop organizer, panel chair and presenter)
• USA, Pittsburgh. Annual Conference SFAA (presenter)

2014               

• Norway, University of Oslo. Institute seminar Department of Social Anthropology (presenter)
• Estonia, Tallinn Biannual Conference of EASA (presenter)
• Njala, Sierra Leone. Workshop at Njala University on mining and local content (presenter)

2013               

• Surrey, UK. Workshop on artisanal mining (presenter)

2010               

• Reading, UK. Workshop on artisanal mining (presenter)
• Utrecht, The Netherlands. Conference of the Dutch Anthropological Association (presenter)