Culture and Conflicts in Sierra Leone Mining

“Dr. Fenda A. Akiwumi has crafted an original contribution to the literature on Sierra Leone’s incorporation into the global capitalist system through a skillful blend of the scholarly literature and data in the areas of anthropology, political economy, and cultural dynamics manifested in culture clash, coalescence, and unequal cultural exchange in the mining area. It is a very engaging, scholarly, and interesting volume that upper-class undergraduates and graduate students, researchers, and general readers will find very useful. It is a concise, but at the same time detailed, vivid, and rigorous portrayal of the several themes that are predicated on the interactive dynamics of traditionalism and modernity during colonial and postcolonial periods.” —Dr. Earl Conteh-Morgan, University of South Florida, USA.

“Akiwumi delves deep into the cultural milieu in which competition for land and mining rights pitches the postcolonial state against customary authority. Only now do we see clearly that the fight over resources in Africa is stewed in the internal and external idioms of class, power, ethnicity, gender, nativity, identity, and spirituality.” —Raphael Njoku, Idaho State University, USA.

“This book offers an original way of discussing environmental, political, and extractive issues in Sierra Leone and more broadly in West Africa. One can appreciate the author’s ‘first-hand knowledge’ by paying attention to details that only a few experts on Sierra Leone’s history and cultural dynamics can have.” —Lorenzo D’Angelo, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.