Dr. Robert Pijpers

• Political Economy
• Environment and socio-spatial arrangements
• Natural resource extraction (industrial and small-scale)
• Land use, land governance and landed power relations
• (Re)configurations of power
• Development
• Temporality and sustainability
• Africa, with a special focus on Sierra Leone and Ghana
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Projects

2018-2021: Small-scale gold mining, mobility and sustainable futures in Ghana

Postdoc project, University of Hamburg, part of the international NORFACE/BELMONT Forum funded project ´Gold Matters: Sustainability Transformations in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining: A Multi-Actor and Trans-Regional Perspective.

2012-2018: Accelerated change and uncertainty: the micro-politics of large-scale mining in Sierra Leone

PhD project, University of Oslo, part of Prof. dr. Eriksen ERC project ´Overheating: the three crises of globalisation

2012-2011: Crops & Carats: land use, competition and co-habitation in Ghana’s mining-farming nexus

Post-MA project, Leiden University, funded by Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds

2009-2010: Rural livelihoods/survival strategies and artisanal diamond mining in Sierra Leone

MA-project, Leiden University

For details please contact Dr. Pijpers.

Edited books and special issues (3)

1.       D’Angelo, L. and Pijpers, R.J. (eds, 2022). The Anthropology of Resource Extraction. London and New York: Routledge.

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

3.       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.

PhD Dissertation

1.       Pijpers, R.J. (2018). Navigating Uncertainty: Large-Scale Mining and Micro-Politics in Sierra Leone. Reprosentralen, University of Oslo. ISBN: 1564-3991 / No. 693

Journal articles (10)

1.       Pijpers, R.J. & Luning, S. (2021). We have so many challenges: Small-scale mining, COVID-19 and constant interruptions in West Africa. Anthropology Today 37 (2): 10-14.

2.       Pijpers, R.J. et al. (2021). Mining ‘Waste’: Repurposing and Transforming Residues in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining. Etnofoor 33 (2): 13-39.

3.       Fisher, E. et al. (2021). Transforming Matters: Sustaining Gold Lifeways in Small-Scale Mining. Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 49: 190-200.

4.       Pijpers, R.J. (2020). Lost glory or poor legacy? The past as political instrument in a Sierra Leonean mining town. Zeitschrift für Ethnologie / Journal of Social and Cultural Anthropology 145: 111-130.

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

6.       D’Angelo, L. and Pijpers, R.J. (2018). Mining Temporalities: An Overview. The Extractive Industries and Society 5 (2): 215-222.

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

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

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

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

Book chapters (9)

1.       Pijpers, R.J. (2022). Development. In D’Angelo, L. and Pijpers, R.J. (eds). The Anthropology of Resource Extraction. London and New York: Routledge.

2.       D’Angelo, L. and Pijpers, R.J. (2022). The Anthropology of Resource Extraction: An Introduction. In D’Angelo, L. and Pijpers, R.J. (eds). The Anthropology of Resource Extraction. London and New York: Routledge.

3.       Pijpers, R.J. and Rajak, D. (2022). Final Reflections and Future Agendas. In D’Angelo, L. and Pijpers, R.J. (eds). The Anthropology of Resource Extraction. London and New York: Routledge.

4.       Pijpers, R.J. (2020). Ghana: A History of Expansion and Contraction in Gold Mining. In Verbrugge, B. and Geenen, S. (eds). The Global Gold Production System Touching Ground: A Story of Global Expansion, Technological Innovation, and Informalization. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 169-84.

5.       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, pp. 1-20.

6.       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, pp. 78-96.

7.       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.

8.       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. 

9.       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.

Book reviews (2)

1.       Pijpers, R.J. (2019). Between the Plough and the Pick: Informal, Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in the Contemporary World, Kuntala Lahiri-Dutt (Ed.). Australian National University Press, Canberra (2018). Extractive Industries and Society 6 (2): 630-631

2.       Pijpers, R.J. (2019). MÜHLFRIED, Florian (ed.) 2018. Mistrust: ethnographic approximations. Transcript Verlag, 232 pages. PB: 34,99 € / E-book: open access. ISBN: 978-3-8376-3923-0. Social Anthropology 27: 125-125

Selected other publications

1.       Pijpers, R.J. & Luning, S. (2020). Co-labouring for Sustainability: the value of transdisciplinary collaborations between mining actors, artists and researchers. www.gold-matters.org (republished by the T2S Research Forum, the Leiden Anthropology Blog, Voice4Thought and i2insights.org).

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

3.       Pijpers, R.J. (2016). Box 2: The pitfalls of data collection – reflections from Sierra Leone. In Nolte, K., Chamberlain, W. & 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.

4.       Pijpers, R.J. (2015). Trust lies at the heart of making economic recovery more equitable for Sierra Leone after Ebola. Published by The Conversation: https://theconversation.com/trust-lies-at-the-heart-of-making-economic-recovery-more-equitable-for-sierra-leone-after-ebola-45178 (republished by allafrica.com)

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

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

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

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

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 platformto disseminate social science research on resource extraction to a wider public (currently under maintenance).

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

2015-2020
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

Organisation

2020    

• International multi-stakeholder workshop ‘Mapping and visualising spatiality and sustainability in ASGM’ (Bolgatanga, Ghana; primary responsibility)
• International NORFACE/BELMONT Forum Transformations 2 Sustainability 2018-2021 Programme mid-term conference (Delft, The Netherlands, member of organising committee)
  2018   
• International workshop ‘Laboured Landscapes: Legacies and Futures of Extraction in Africa’. Workshop of the AEGIS CRG  ́Resource Extraction in Africa ́ (Leiden University, The Netherlands, with dr. Sabine Luning)
• Panel ‘Mining Mobility: the movement of people and expertise in the context of extractive projects’ at biennial EASA Conference (Stockholm, Sweden, with dr. Nikkie Wiegink)

2017    

• Two-day international workshop on ‘Mining Temporalities’ (Utrecht University, The Netherlands, with dr. Lorenzo D’Angelo)
  2016   
• Panel ‘Mining Temporalities: ideas, experiences and politics of time in extractive industries’ at biennial EASA Conference (Milan, Italy, with dr. Lorenzo D’Angelo)

2015    

• Organisation of a three-day international workshop ‘Mining Encounters’, (University of Oslo, Norway, primary responsibility)
  2008
• International conference 'Anthropology and controversy: rethinking the position of the anthropologist through contested research' (Leiden University, The Netherlands, member of organizing committee)

Presentation

2019    

• Accra, Ghana - Crossing Boundaries: exchanging ideas on methodologies for extractive industries Research (University of Ghana)
• Leiden, The Netherlands - Global Earth Matters conference (Leiden University and the National Museum of Ethnology)
• Luzern, Switzerland - Ethnologisches Seminar, University of Luzern
• Norwich, UK - ASA UK Annual Conference
  2018   
• Antwerp, Belgium – workshop on gold production networks (Institute of Development Policy)
• Hamburg, Germany – Institutskolloquium Department of Social Anthropology
• Stockholm, Sweden – EASA biennial conference
• Utrecht, the Netherlands – Land Academy conference

2017

• Oslo, Norway - Overheating project closing conference

2016

• Dubrovnik, Croatia - IUAES Conference
• Liege, Belgium - Seminar ‘Mining booms & busts in Africa. Towards a comparative approach’ (University of Liege)
• Uppsala, Sweden - workshop on the ‘The Moral Economy in Africa’ (Nordic Africa Institute)

2015    

• Denver, US - AAA Annual Meeting
• Helsinki, Finland - Conference of the Finish Anthropological Society
• Oslo, Norway – Mining Encounters workshop (University of Oslo)
• Oslo, Norway – Seminar ‘Extractive economies in West Africa: recent trends and socio-political issues’ (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
• Pittsburgh, US - SFAA Annual Meeting

2014    

• Njala, Sierra Leone – workshop ‘The changing face of corporate responsibility in the extractive industry: From philanthropy to sustainable investments’ (Njala University)
• Oslo, Norway – Institute’s seminar Department of Social Anthropology
  Tallinn, Estonia - EASA biennial conference

2013    

• Surrey, UK - Workshop on artisanal mining (University of Surrey)

2010    

• Reading, UK – Workshop on artisanal mining (University of Reading)
• Utrecht, The Netherlands - Conference of the Dutch Anthropological Association