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Migration, housing and attachment in urban gold mining settlements

Author

Listed:
  • Katherine V Gough

    (Loughborough University, UK)

  • Paul WK Yankson

    (University of Ghana, Ghana)

  • James Esson

    (Loughborough University, UK)

Abstract

Mining settlements are typically portrayed as either consisting of purpose-built housing constructed by mining companies to house their workers, or as temporary makeshift shelters built by miners working informally and inhabited by male migrants who live dangerously and develop little attachment to these places. This paper contributes to these debates on the social and material dynamics occurring in mining settlements, focusing on those with urban rather than rural characteristics, by highlighting how misconceived these archetypal portrayals are in the Ghanaian context. Drawing on qualitative data collected in three mining settlements, we explore who is moving to and living in the mining towns, who is building houses, and how attachments to place develop socio-temporally. Through doing so, the paper provides original insights on the heterogeneous nature of mining settlements, which are found to be home to a wide range of people engaged in diverse activities. Mining settlements and their attendant social dynamics are shown to evolve in differing ways, depending on the type of mining taking place and the length of time the mines have been in operation. Significantly, we illustrate how, contrary to popular understandings of incomers to mining settlements as nomadic opportunists, migrants often aspire to build their own houses and establish a family, which promotes their attachment to these settlements and their desire to remain. These insights further scholarship on the social and material configuration of mining settlements and feed into the revival of interest in small and intermediate urban settlements.

Suggested Citation

  • Katherine V Gough & Paul WK Yankson & James Esson, 2019. "Migration, housing and attachment in urban gold mining settlements," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 56(13), pages 2670-2687, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:56:y:2019:i:13:p:2670-2687
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098018798536
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Esson, James & Gough, Katherine V. & Simon, David & Amankwaa, Ebenezer F. & Ninot, Olivier & Yankson, Paul W.K., 2016. "Livelihoods in motion: Linking transport, mobility and income-generating activities," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 182-188.
    2. Boris Verbrugge, 2015. "The Economic Logic of Persistent Informality: Artisanal and Small-Scale Mining in the Southern Philippines," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 46(5), pages 1023-1046, September.
    3. Bloch, Robin & Owusu, George, 2012. "Linkages in Ghana's gold mining industry: Challenging the enclave thesis," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 434-442.
    4. Marais, Lochner & McKenzie, Fiona Haslam & Deacon, Leith & Nel, Etienne & Rooyen, Deidre van & Cloete, Jan, 2018. "The changing nature of mining towns: Reflections from Australia, Canada and South Africa," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 779-788.
    5. Teschner, Benjamin A., 2012. "Small-scale mining in Ghana: The government and the galamsey," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 308-314.
    6. Hilson, Gavin, 2002. "Harvesting mineral riches: 1000 years of gold mining in Ghana," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 13-26.
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    Cited by:

    1. Xu, Guoliang & Liu, Yu & Huang, Xianjin & Xu, Yuting & Wan, Chunyan & Zhou, Yan, 2021. "How does resettlement policy affect the place attachment of resettled farmers?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    2. Deborah Fahy Bryceson & Katherine V. Gough & Jesper Bosse Jønsson & Crispin Kinabo & Michael Clarke Shand & Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues & Paul W.K. Yankson, 2022. "MINERALIZED URBANIZATION IN AFRICA IN THE TWENTY‐FIRST CENTURY: Becoming Urban through Mining Extraction," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 46(3), pages 342-369, May.

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