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Unearthing Rule - mining, power and the political ecology of extraction in colonial Zambia

Tomas Frederiksen

[Thesis].University of Manchester;2010.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the co-production of social inequality and an extractive space on the Zambian Copperbelt in the early twentieth-century. The rapidity and scale of the development of world-leading copper mines on the Copperbelt was described at the time as “one of the greatest mineral developments ever experienced” and took many observers by surprise. This thesis examines the origins of this boom. It argues that the success of mining on the Copperbelt is not only a result of the decisions and actions of miners and colonial officials in the 1930s to 1960s, but largely a result of those taken in the decades prior to this ‘heyday’. The keys to understanding this rapid transformation lie in the political and economic interventions and innovations which colonialism brought to (what was then called) Northern Rhodesia in the decades preceding the advent of large-scale mining. In this earlier period, dozens of mining and other commercial enterprises failed, but in their ruins the seeds of commercial success were sown. In this period too, many of the structures which generated and perpetuated the inequality and poverty which characterise contemporary Zambia were created. The success of extractive capitalism in Northern Rhodesia rested on changing regimes of access to and control over resources. Interventions in socio-ecological relations were a focus of British colonial rule in Northern Rhodesia and created the political and economic 'infrastructure' which enabled mining to take off rapidly when rich ore was subsequently discovered. This thesis explores how the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt was produced as a space for natural resource extraction in the colonial period through attention to the military, political and economic practices which produced regimes of access to, and control over, resources. These interventions were key to instantiating new capitalist relations and asserting British rule in colonial Zambia. To examine the conditions in which the Copperbelt boom was produced, this thesis draws on existing work on this transition. In drawing on this work, this research offers a political ecological critique of the development of Zambian Copperbelt. The thesis highlights the complexities of the struggle to produce both extractive capitalism and stable colonial rule and how the production of an extractive space on the Copperbelt had long-term consequences for the territory's development.

Bibliographic metadata

Type of resource:
Content type:
Type of thesis:
Author(s) list:
Degree type:
PhD
Publication date:
Total pages:
277
Table of contents:
Chapter One: IntroductionIntroduction – ‘This open sore of the world’............................................................... 17 The Literature ............................................................................................................ 19 Understanding the Copperbelt...........................................................................................................................19Zambian Historiography ...................................................................................................................................... 22Marxism and the underdevelopment of Africa............................................................................................25Political Ecology of natural resources.............................................................................................................26Towards a political ecology of mining............................................................................................................29 The historical roots of contemporary extractive capitalism ................................................................ 31 Environmental crises..............................................................................................................................................34 Power, environmental struggle and the state ............................................................................................. 37Research agenda........................................................................................................ 47 The research: issues of conceptualisation and method............................................... 49 The thesis structure ................................................................................................... 53Chapter Two: The Scramble for RhodesiaIntroduction............................................................................................................... 59 The mining industry, the BSAC and creation of Northern Rhodesia ............................ 602 Unearthing RuleExploration and treaties............................................................................................. 65 Conquest ................................................................................................................... 70 Pax Britannica – early British rule in Northern Rhodesia ............................................ 74 Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 78Chapter Three: Creating an extractive economyIntroduction............................................................................................................... 81 The BSAC and the race for resources .......................................................................... 82 The Southern Rhodesian mining boom and spectacular accumulation ....................... 84 Early mining in Northern Rhodesia............................................................................. 88 Early economic expansion in Northern Rhodesia........................................................ 90 The failure of early mining in Northern Rhodesia ....................................................... 92 Creating an extractive space ...................................................................................... 99 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 102Chapter Four: The BSAC and ‘the rule of the feeble’Introduction............................................................................................................. 105 The hut tax .............................................................................................................. 106 The brutality of rule ................................................................................................. 109 Disruption and dispossession................................................................................... 112 The limits to British rule........................................................................................... 115 Conclusion: 'The rule of the feeble' .......................................................................... 125Chapter Five: Seeing the Copperbelt – science and the legibility of natureIntroduction............................................................................................................. 129 The legibility of nature............................................................................................. 131 A new era of prospecting ......................................................................................... 136 The Rhodesian Congo Border Concession................................................................. 139 Geologising the Copperbelt...................................................................................... 148 Producing a known space......................................................................................... 152Unearthing Rule  3The rush to development ......................................................................................... 155 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 159Chapter Six: Entrenching Rule – governmentality and dispossessionIntroduction............................................................................................................. 163 A changing approach to rule .................................................................................... 164 Colonial governmentality ......................................................................................... 166 Native Authorities.................................................................................................... 170 Native Reserves ....................................................................................................... 177 Changing rule and the labour question..................................................................... 186 Contradictions of rule .............................................................................................. 189 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 194Chapter Seven: The Colonial State in Northern RhodesiaIntroduction............................................................................................................. 197 Conceptualising the colonial state............................................................................ 200 Mining, domination, and the territorialisation of rule .............................................. 204 Colonial regulation................................................................................................... 210 Miners and Politics in the 1930s............................................................................... 218 Producing the Copperbelt ........................................................................................ 221 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 226Chapter Eight: ConclusionIntroduction............................................................................................................. 229The argument so far................................................................................................. 230The research questions ............................................................................................ 235How was the Zambian Copperbelt produced as a space for natural resource extraction and export to global commodity markets in the early colonial period? ................................................ 2354 Unearthing RuleIn what ways did 'European' actors intervene in socio-environmental relationships in colonial Zambia to produce new regimes of access to and control over resources on the Copperbelt? ............................................................................................................................................................. 239 How did the political economic imperatives of extraction and the political imperatives of colonial rule interact to produce the inequitable political ecology of extraction of the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt?.................................................................................................................. 241 Power, space and rule – the lessons for political ecology ......................................... 244Contemporary Zambia ............................................................................................. 248 Closing word: 'this open sore of the world' .............................................................. 250
Abstract:
This thesis examines the co-production of social inequality and an extractive space on the Zambian Copperbelt in the early twentieth-century. The rapidity and scale of the development of world-leading copper mines on the Copperbelt was described at the time as “one of the greatest mineral developments ever experienced” and took many observers by surprise. This thesis examines the origins of this boom. It argues that the success of mining on the Copperbelt is not only a result of the decisions and actions of miners and colonial officials in the 1930s to 1960s, but largely a result of those taken in the decades prior to this ‘heyday’. The keys to understanding this rapid transformation lie in the political and economic interventions and innovations which colonialism brought to (what was then called) Northern Rhodesia in the decades preceding the advent of large-scale mining. In this earlier period, dozens of mining and other commercial enterprises failed, but in their ruins the seeds of commercial success were sown. In this period too, many of the structures which generated and perpetuated the inequality and poverty which characterise contemporary Zambia were created. The success of extractive capitalism in Northern Rhodesia rested on changing regimes of access to and control over resources. Interventions in socio-ecological relations were a focus of British colonial rule in Northern Rhodesia and created the political and economic 'infrastructure' which enabled mining to take off rapidly when rich ore was subsequently discovered. This thesis explores how the Northern Rhodesian Copperbelt was produced as a space for natural resource extraction in the colonial period through attention to the military, political and economic practices which produced regimes of access to, and control over, resources. These interventions were key to instantiating new capitalist relations and asserting British rule in colonial Zambia. To examine the conditions in which the Copperbelt boom was produced, this thesis draws on existing work on this transition. In drawing on this work, this research offers a political ecological critique of the development of Zambian Copperbelt. The thesis highlights the complexities of the struggle to produce both extractive capitalism and stable colonial rule and how the production of an extractive space on the Copperbelt had long-term consequences for the territory's development.

Record metadata

Manchester eScholar ID:
uk-ac-man-scw:273400
Created by:
Frederiksen, Tomas
Created:
22nd September, 2015, 16:16:21
Last modified by:
Frederiksen, Tomas
Last modified:
22nd September, 2015, 16:16:21

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