A Ritual Geology
Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa
Duke University Press · Print & ebook · August 26, 2022
Set against the ongoing corporate enclosure of West Africa’s goldfields, A Ritual Geology tells the untold history of one of the world’s oldest indigenous gold mining industries: Francophone West Africa’s orpaillage.
We earn from qualifying purchases.
- Who it’s for
- Robyn d’Avignon traces how African miners’ knowledge shaped gold exploration across savanna West Africa.
- Themes
- Indigenous gold mining, Subterranean knowledge and ritual, Colonial and corporate extraction
- Genres
- West African History, African Studies, Colonialism & Its Aftermath
Nearest books
Matched by what the books are about, then ordered by what their readers also loved. Most of these share its genre: Colonialism & Its Aftermath.
Unstable GroundRosalind C. Morris61% match
A Fistful of ShellsToby Green52% matchAlso shares West African History
The Upper Guinea Coast in Global PerspectiveJacqueline Knörr, Christoph Kohl50% matchAlso shares West African History and African Studies
Rituals of ResistanceJason R. Young50% match
Empire UnseenMélanie Lamotte49% match
NamibDr John Kinahan49% match
African Art and the Colonial EncounterStith Thompson, Sidney Littlefield Kasfir49% matchAlso shares African Studies
For younger readers: The Royal Kingdoms of Ghana, Mali, and Songhay, A Pride of African Tales, Accidental Archaeologists: True Stories of Unexpected Discoveries
Start with three books, and this one can be the first.
Members get a new edition every morning: a route out from their books to essays, research and talks, with the reason for each.
Start with this bookAbout this book
Set against the ongoing corporate enclosure of West Africa’s goldfields, A Ritual Geology tells the untold history of one of the world’s oldest indigenous gold mining industries: Francophone West Africa’s orpaillage. Establishing African miners as producers of subterranean knowledge, Robyn d’Avignon uncovers a dynamic “ritual geology” of techniques and cosmological engagements with the earth developed by agrarian residents of gold-bearing rocks in savanna West Africa.
Continue reading
Colonial and corporate exploration geology in the region was built upon the ritual knowledge, gold discoveries, and skilled labor of African miners even as states racialized African mining as archaic, criminal, and pagan. Spanning the medieval and imperial past to the postcolonial present, d’Avignon weaves together long-term ethnographic and oral historical work in southeastern Senegal with archival and archeological evidence from Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, and Mali. A Ritual Geology introduces transnational geological formations as a new regional framework for African studies, environmental history, and anthropology.
West African Orpaillage
Robyn d’Avignon traces how African miners’ knowledge shaped gold exploration across savanna West Africa.
Come here for
- The history of Francophone West Africa’s orpaillage
- African miners’ techniques and cosmological engagements with the earth
Expect
- Ethnographic and oral histories from southeastern Senegal
- Archival and archaeological evidence from four neighboring countries
Where it sits
| West African History | 73% |
|---|---|
| Colonialism & Its Aftermath | 32% |
| African Studies | 22% |
Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.
Publisher categories
- How Cultures Work
- Authors
- Robyn d'Avignon
- Publisher
- Duke University Press
- Published
- August 26, 2022
- Format
- Print & ebook
- Theme
- Indigenous gold mining · Subterranean knowledge and ritual · Colonial and corporate extraction
- Reading lane
- How Cultures Work