Skip to main content
Go to the home page of the European Commission (opens in new window)
English English
CORDIS - EU research results
CORDIS

Reinventing paternalism. The micropolitics of work in the mining companies of Central Africa

Objective

In the course of the last decade, African countries rich in mineral resources have experienced an unprecedented boom in mining investment. The copperbelt that crosses the border between Zambia and Congo, where our research will be carried out, represents one of the most striking cases of this “new scramble for Africa”: mining companies of various sizes and origins have flocked to these countries of central Africa to take over the assets of public enterprises and to develop new mining projects. The WORKINMINING research project is a collective ethnographic investigation into the changes that new investors have brought to the organization of labour in these areas marked by a century of corporate paternalism. It explores the micropolitics of work at play in companies of different sizes and origins in Zambia and Congo through three complementary subprojects on 1) the practices and discourses of workers in mining companies; 2) the everyday operation of trade unions in the mining sector; and 3) the actions of state representatives in the domain of labour. The three subprojects will provide the basis for a systematic comparison between the Zambian and Congolese copperbelts. To date, these two areas have been studied separately, despite the fact that their economic and social history shows striking parallels and interconnections. From a theoretical point of view, the overall research project will contribute to an original reflection on the transformations of paternalism as practice and discourse within the context of the mining boom. Its aim is to open up new avenues for an in-depth understanding of the new forms of economic, political, and social dependence (and possibilities) generated by mining capitalism in Africa.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

You need to log in or register to use this function

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-COG - Consolidator Grant

See all projects funded under this funding scheme

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

(opens in new window) ERC-2014-CoG

See all projects funded under this call

Host institution

UNIVERSITE DE LIEGE
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 650 165,00
Address
PLACE DU 20 AOUT 7
4000 LIEGE
Belgium

See on map

Region
Région wallonne Prov. Liège Arr. Liège
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 650 165,00

Beneficiaries (1)

My booklet 0 0