Universiteit Leiden

nl en

Sabine Luning receives NORFACE grant for ST-ASGM project (lead: UK)

Together with colleagues from the UK (lead), Burkina Faso, Ghana, Uganda, Brazil, Sweden, Germany, and Marjo de Theije of the VU (Amsterdam), Luning has obtained a research grant for the project 'Sustainability Transformations in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining: A Multi-Actor and Trans-Regional Perspective'. The objective of the ST-ASGM project is to consider whether a transformative approach towards sustainability can arise in artisanal and small-scale gold mining.

Supporting the livelihoods of millions of people in low and lower middle income countries, artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) has potential to contribute to sustainable development across the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. However, negative impacts generate critical barriers to sustainability.

Through the lens of Anthropology

Anthropology is an entry point for an interdisciplinary approach to better conceptualise the dynamic, heterogeneous reality of ASGM. It also aims to identify the potential for sustainable transformations in these shifting social settings. Capitalising on existing artisanal and small-scale gold mining partnerships, this forms the basis for a trans-continental and trans-national project between South America, West Africa, and East Africa. 

Enhanced impact

To add value to global research efforts, “Sustainability Conversations” will enhance impact, co-producing knowledge with mining actors to understand sustainability from miners’ own perspectives. A strategic evidence-based summary “Visions and Vistas for Sustainable Futures in ASGM” contributes to policy influence. 

“Moving Mine Matters”

Giving creative expression to people’s understandings of sustainable mining futures and building impact is an exciting collaboration between African photographers from NUKU Studios, Ghana, and the Museum of Ethnography of Material Culture, The Netherlands. This incorporates the co-production of visual images with African and Brazilian gold miners, as the basis of an exhibition travelling “Moving Mine Matters” between West and East Africa, Brazil, and the Netherlands in 2020 and 2021.

Research team

The consortium for this research project consists of the following researchers:

Dr. E. Fisher, University of Reading
Dr. S. Luning, Leiden University
Dr. M. de Theije, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Prof. M. Schnegg, University of Hamburg
Dr. C. Lanzano, Nordic Africa Institute
Dr. P. Hochet, Insuco Foundation for Social Science Research
Name Principal Investigator from Brazil t.b.a.

This website uses cookies.  More information.