Dr. Robert Pijpers

• Natural resource extraction (large-scale and small-scale)
• Land use and land governance
• Rural development and rural livelihood strategies
• Temporality, historicity and the future
• Uncertainty
• Dependency/patron-client relations
• Sustainability
• Africa, with a 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.

Articles

Luning, S. and Pijpers, R.J (2018). Shifting alliances in accessing the underground. Africa 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.

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. (in print). 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.

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 volume special journal issue

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

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.

Book reviews

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, doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2019.01.001

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 non-academic publications

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

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

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

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

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