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There Used to Be Order: Life on the Copperbelt after the Privatisation of the Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines
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.
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1. Mining, Welfare, and Urbanisation
Chapter 2. “You Can’t Plan”
Chapter 3. “Getting By”
Chapter 4. Contesting Illegality: Women in the Informal Copper Business
Figure 2. Street view of house with maize stalks in the front yard and smoke coming from the smokehouse for curing meat in the backyard visible. Photo by Mulemwa Mususa, December 2008.
Figure 3. Potholed road partially filled in with flux stone sourced from the mine dumps (see chapter 4 on economic activity at the mine dump sites). Photo by Mulemwa Mususa, December 2008.
Figure 4. Luanshya mine recreation centre with signage directing to sporting and recreational activities like tennis, soccer, rugby, ballroom dancing, swimming, and the former mine mess. Photo by Mulemwa Mususa, December 2008.
Figure 7. Two women wait for service at a small front-yard store made from off-cut timber and covered in tarpaulin. The store sells tomatoes, bread, and candy and advertises a hair salon. Photo by Mulemwa Mususa, December 2008.
Figure 1. Map of Zambia, showing the Copperbelt and its towns, and the new mining regions in North Western Province. Source: Cartography by Mike Shand, University of Glasgow, based on United Nations Population Division map.
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