Social Structure of Artisanal and Small-scale Mining in Africa

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K13064
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Sociology
• Research Institution: Akita University
• Principal Investigator: Aizawa Yoshio 秋田大学, 国際資源学研究科, 准教授 (20722317)
• Research Collaborator: Rimoy Siya Paul University of Dar es Salaam, Department of Transportation and Geotechnical Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 零細鉱業 / 社会構造 / 社会的関係性 / 社会変容 / 地域とのかかわり / 政府の支援体制 / タンザニア / アフリカ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of the study was to understand the social structure of Artisanal and Small-scale Mining (ASM). The study focused mainly on three areas: 1) supporting mechanisms for ASM, 2) the relations between ASM actors in the mining sites, and 3) relations between ASM actors and surrounding communities. Field studies were carried out 3 times in Geita District, Tanzania in 2015, 2016, and 2017. The study identified bottlenecks in ASM support, indicated a way to target support for ASM sites, confirmed the appropriateness of ASM support by local autonomies, clarified the relations between the main ASM actors, confirmed an informal safety net in ASM, and examined the transformation of relations between the main ASM actors and surrounding communities.

Free Research Field

社会学