There used to be order : life on the Copperbelt after the privatisation of the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines / Patience Mususa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mususa, Patience, author.

Series:

African perspectives.

African perspectives

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited.

Social change--Zambia--Copperbelt Province.

Social change.

Privatization--Zambia--Copperbelt Province.

Privatization.

Copper mines and mining--Zambia--Copperbelt Province.

Copper mines and mining.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (235 pages)

Place of Publication:

Ann Arbor, Michigan : University of Michigan Press, 2021.

Summary:

In There Used to Be Order, Patience Mususa considers social change in the Copperbelt region of Zambia following the re-privatization of the large state mining conglomerate, the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines (ZCCM), in the mid-1990s. As the copper mines were Zambia's most important economic asset, the sale of ZCCM was considered a major loss to the country. More crucially, privatization marked the end of a way of life for mine employees and mining communities. Based on three years of ethnographic field research, this book examines life for those living in difficult economic circumstances, and considers the tension between the life they live and the nature of an "extractive area." This account, unusual in its examination of middle-income decline in Africa, directs us to think of the Copperbelt not only as an extractive locale for copper whose activities are affected by the market, but also as a place where the residents' engagement with the harsh reality of losing jobs and struggling to earn a living after the withdrawal of welfare is simultaneously changing both the material and social character of the place. Drawing on phenomenological approaches, the book develops a theoretical model of "trying," which accounts for both Copperbelt residents' aspirations and efforts.

Contents:

Intro

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1. Mining, Welfare, and Urbanisation: The Wavering Urban Character of Zambia's Copperbelt

Chapter 2. "You Can't Plan": Dreams, Practice, and Order

Chapter 3. "Getting By": "Improvising a Life" on the Post-privatisation Copperbelt

Chapter 4. Contesting Illegality: Women in the Informal Copper Business

Chapter 5. Performing Gender on the Copperbelt

Chapter 6. "Topping Up": Life amidst Hardship and Death

Conclusion. Making Life out of Disorder

Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 203-216) and index.

Description based on information from the publisher.

ISBN:

9780472129362

0472129368

OCLC:

1261764845