Sara Geenen associate professor

Research Sara Geenen

WaterRush

WaterRush studies uneven, unsafe and insufficient water access in the Copperbelt region in southeastern DRC. It is a FEDTWIN project carried out in collaboration with the Royal Museum for Central Africa. Bossissi Nkuba is working on the project. 

Linkages from large-scale mining

This FWO-funded project critically assessed backward linkages from large-scale mining, focusing on work contracts and work conditons in subcontracting companies operating in large-scale gold mines in Ghana and the DRC. In April/May 2017 we carried out a survey among 130 workers and 10 managers of subcontractors working for Banro Corporation in Luhwindja, Eastern DRC. In addition, 10 individual interviews and 10 focus group discussions were organized. In April 2018, 110 workers and 10 managers were surveyed in Namoya; 16 in-depth interviews and 10 focus group discussions were carried out. In June 2019, workers and managers were surveyed in Durba, with subcontractors working for Kibali Goldmines. In September/October 2017 240 workers and 20 managers have been surveyed in Western Region, Ghana. 20 individual interviews and 20 focus group discussions were organized.

Output

Hybrid governance in mining concessions

My post-doctoral research project with the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) was on ‘ Hybrid governance in mining concessions in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Ghana’. It studied how mining corporations do not just affect the local economy, but also local politics, creating winners and losers in both arenas. The project studied such changes in the DRC and in Ghana, drawing on the literature on hybrid governance and analyzing power and authority ‘from below’.

Output

  • February and March 2015- Fieldwork in Ghana: During my first exploratory fieldwork in Ghana I spent some time in Accra and in Western Region, an important gold-producing region. I collaborated with the University of Mines and Technology (UMAT). This research was sponsored by FWO and BOF- University of Antwerp.
  • September 2015- Fieldwork in DRCongo: In September I did fieldwork in Namoya. This research was sponsored by FWO and VLIR.
  • March 2016- Working paper Ghana: I piblished the IOB Working Paper on hybrid governance in mining concessions. ECDPM also published a discussion paper on Multi-stakeholder partnerships in the gold sector in Ghana, based on the same case study company.
  • December 2016- Presentation and poster Bukavu conference: I presented a paper and a poster at the Bukavu conference “Transition and local development in Eastern DRCongo” on 8-10 December.

African artisanal mining from the inside out

Artisanal mining is commonly associated with violent conflict, rampant corruption and desperate poverty, especially in unstable regions in Sub-Sahara Africa. Yet millions of people across the continent depend on it. Many of them are living in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), home to important mineral reserves, but also to a plethora of armed groups and massive human rights violations: a situation that has given rise to the common labelling of the region’s mineral resources as ‘conflict minerals’. Drawing on hundreds of interviews and extensive field research in some of the most important Congolese gold mines, my PhD provides an in-depth analysis of practices and norms in African gold mining. Instead of portraying miners and traders as passive victims of global economic forces, regional conflict dynamics or disheartening national policies, it focuses on their practices and the ways in which they gain access to and benefit from the mineral resources. It shows a professional artisanal mining sector governed by a set of specific norms, offering opportunities for flexible employment and local livelihood support and being well-connected to the local economy and society. It argues for the viability of artisanal gold mining in the context of weak African states and in the transition towards a post-conflict and more industrialized economy.​

Output

  • ​PhD: Qui cherche, trouve. The political economy of access to gold mining and trade in South Kivu, DRC. University of Antwerp, 2014.
  • Book: African artisanal mining from the inside out. Access, norms and power in Congo's gold sector. Routledge, 2015. 
  • Geenen, S. and Kamundala Byemba, G. (2009) "Qui cherche, trouve? Opportunités, défis et espoirs dans le secteur de l'or à Kamituga", in : Marysse, S. ; Reyntjens, F. and Vandeginste ; S. (eds) L'Afrique des Grands Lacs: Annuaire 2008-2009, Paris, Harmattan : 183-213.
  • Geenen, S. and Custers, R. (2010) "Tiraillements autour du secteur minier de l’Est de la RDC", in: Vandeginste, S., Reyntjens, F. en Marysse, S. L’Afrique des Grands Lacs. Annuaire 2009-2010, L’Harmattan, Paris: 231-258.
  • Geenen, S. (2010) “The gold trade in Butembo”, In Cuvelier, J. (ed.) The Complexity of Resource Governance in a Context of State Fragility: the case of Eastern DRC, London: International Alert and International Peace Information Service (IPIS): 21-25.
  • Geenen, S. (2010) "Isolatie en connectie van een mijnstad", Agora: tijdschrift voor sociaal-ruimtelijke vraagstukken 26 (1): 38-41.
  • Geenen, S. (2011) “Relations and regulations in local gold trade networks in South-Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo”, Journal of eastern African studies 5 (3): 427-446.
  • Geenen, S. (2011) “Constraints, opportunities and hope: artisanal gold mining and trade in South Kivu (DRC)”, in Ansoms, A. and Marysse, S. (eds.) Natural resources and local livelihoods in the Great Lakes region of Africa. A political economy perspective, London: Palgrave Macmillan: 192-214.
  • Geenen, S. (2011) “Local livelihoods, global interests and the state in the Congolese mining sector”, in Ansoms, A. and Marysse, S. (eds.) Natural Resources and Local Livelihoods in the Great Lakes Region of Africa. A political economy perspective. London: Palgrave Macmillan: 147-69.
  • Marysse, S. and Geenen, S. (2011) "Triangular arm wrestling : analysis and revision of the Sino-Congolese agreements", Ansoms, A. and Marysse, S. (ed.) Natural resources and local livelihoods in the Great Lakes Region of Africa : a political economy perspective, London: Palgrave Macmillan: 237-251.
  • Geenen, S., Kamundala, G. and Iragi, F. (2011) “Le pari qui paralysait. La suspension des activités minières artisanales au Sud-Kivu », in Marysse, S., Reyntjens, F. and Vandeginste, S. (eds.) L’Afrique des Grands Lacs. Annuaire 2010-2011. L’Harmattan, Paris: 161-183.
  • Geenen, S. (2011) "Ban op ambachtelijke mijnbouw in Zuid-Kivu : alsof de president ons langzaam wil vermoorden", MO Magazine: 36-39.
  • Geenen, S. (2011) "La suspension des activités minières artisanales au Sud-Kivu", La Revue Nouvelle 66 (7-8) : 100-106.
  • Geenen, S. (2012) "A dangerous bet. The challenges of formalizing artisanal mining in the Democratic Republic of Congo”, Resources Policy 37 (3): 322-330.
  • Geenen, S. and Claessens, K. (2012) “De l’autre côté de la colline. Le contrôle contesté de Mukungwe, Sud-Kivu, in : Reyntjens, F., Vandeginste, S., Verpoorten, M. (eds.) L’Afrique des Grands Lacs. Annuaire 2011-2012, Paris, L’Harmattan: 181-203.
  • Geenen, S. and Claessens K. (2013) “Disputed access to the gold mines in Luhwindja, eastern DRCongo”, Journal of Modern African Studies 51 (1): 85-108.
  • Geenen, S. (2013) “’Who seeks, finds’: how artisanal miners and traders benefit from gold in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo”, European Journal of Development Research 25 (2): 197-212.
  • Geenen, S. and Iragi, F. (2013) “‘Les grands poissons mangent les petits' : multiples aspects d'un conflit autour d'une concession minière au Sud-Kivu", Politique Africaine 131 (3) : 121-141.
  • Geenen, S., Fahey, D. and Iragi Mukotanyi, F. (2013) "The future of artisanal gold mining and miners under an increasing industrial presence in South Kivu and Ituri, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo", Discussion papers University of Antwerp, Institute of Development Policy and Management 2013.03, 42p.
  • Geenen, S. and Hönke, J. (2014) “Land grabbing by mining companies, local contentions and state reconfiguration in South-Kivu, DRC”, in Ansoms, A. and Hilhorst, T. (eds.) Losing your land. Dispossession in the Great Lakes, Oxford, James Currey: 58-81.
  • Geenen, S. (2014) “Dispossession, displacement and resistance: artisanal miners in a gold concession in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo”, Resources Policy 40: 90-99.
  • Geenen, S. and Radley, B. (2014) “In the face of reform: : what future for ASM in the eastern DRC?”, Futures 62: 58-66.  
  • Geenen, S. (2015) “Evident but elusive. Practical norms in the Congolese gold sector”, in: De Herdt, T. and Olivier de Sardan, J.P., Real governance and practical norms in Sub-Saharan Africa. The game of the rules, Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 228-244.
  • Bashizi, A. and Geenen, S. (2015) « Les limites d’une ‘gouvernance par le bas’: les logiques des coopératives minières à Kalimbi, Sud-Kivu » in : Marysse, S. et Omasombo Tshonda, J. (eds.) Conjonctures Congolaises 2014. Politiques, territoires et ressources naturelles : changements et continuités, Cahiers Africains, Paris, L’Harmattan : 239-260.
  • Bashizi, A. and Geenen, S. (2015) “’Modernisation’ du secteur minier artisanal versus hybridation de la réforme au Sud-Kivu”, in: Reyntjens, F.; Vandeginste, S. and Verpoorten, M. (eds.) L’Afrique des Grands Lacs. Annuaire 2014-2015, Antwerp, University Press Antwerp : 219-244.
  • De Haan, J. and Geenen, S. (2015) “Mining cooperatives in South Kivu: saviour or extortionist?”, IOB Analysis and Policy Brief 14, University of Antwerp.
  • Bryceson, D. and Geenen, S. (2016) "Artisanal frontier mining of gold in Africa: labour transformation in Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo", African Affairs 115 (459): 296-317.
  • Bashizi, A.; Ntububa, M. Nyenyezi Bisoka, A. et Geenen, S. (2016) "Exploitation minière en RDC : oubli de l’environnement ? Vers une political ecology" in Marysse, S. and Omasombo, J. (eds.) Conjonctures Congolaises 2015. Entre incertitudes politiques et transformation économique, Cahiers Africaines n.87, Paris, L’Harmattan, pp. 277-297.
  • Geenen, S. and Claessens, K. (2016) “Different faces of access control in a Congolese gold mine”, Third World Thematics 1 (2): 249-266.
  • De Haan, Jorden and Geenen, Sara (2016) “Mining cooperatives in Eastern DRC. The interplay between historical power relations and formal institutions”, Extractive Industries and Society 3 (3): 823-831.
  • Geenen, S. and Marysse, S. (2016) “Democratic Republic of the Congo: mining sector”, Encyclopedia of mineral and energy policy, Berlin, Springer, 2016, pp. 1-6.