Tilo Grätz: Ressourcenkonflikte und Autochthonie-Diskurse in Westafrika am Beispiel des handwerklichen Goldabbaus im Nordwesten Benins sowie im Südwesten Malis

Abstract. – The contribution follows contemporary discourses on autochthony in West Africa in relation to legitimizing strategies of a privileged control over mineral resources, exemplified by case studies on actors involved in artisanal gold mining. Based on in-depth field work, two case studies from northern Benin and southwestern Mali are compared, both relating to recent gold mining booms with a subsequent immigration of numerous miners. In both cases, local prerogatives were legitimatized with discursive constructions of autochthony, referring to anteriority, collective memory, and “traditional” institutions. The success of local interest groups in maintaining power positions over immigrant miners were, however, in these cases quite different, due to the divergent local political contexts and dynamics of power relations. The article aims at contributing to the debate on the politics of belonging with regard to processes of migration, access to resources, and cross-regional social integration in West Africa.
[West Africa, Benin, Mali, autochthony, migration, gold mining, power relations]