Jeroen Cuvelier
Jeroen Cuvelier holds a Master’s degree in African Studies from Leiden University, an Advanced Master’s degree in Governance and Development from the University of Antwerp, and a PhD in social and cultural anthropology from the University of Leuven. His PhD dissertation dealt with the lives and practices of artisanal miners in the Congolese Copperbelt. Between 2012 and 2015, he coordinated and took part in two research projects: one at the Conflict Research Group, focusing on the relationship between artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM), urbanization and access to land, and another one at the Special Chair for Humanitarian Aid and Reconstruction of Wageningen University, examining the governance implications and the socio-economic impact of national and international initiatives aimed at formalizing the Congolese ASM sector. Between 2017 and 2021, he served as a visiting professor at the Institute for Anthropological Research in Africa (IARA) of KU Leuven, where he taught courses in economic anthropology and the anthropology of development. His current post-doctoral research, funded by FWO Flanders, deals with the politics of time in environments where large-scale and small-scale forms of mining co-occur.
New Publication: Contested ‘commune rurales’: Decentralisation and the (violent) struggle for public authority in the Democratic Republic of Congo
This article explores how decentralisation policy and specifically the establishment of communes rurales in DR Congo turned into a profoundly destabilising juncture, shaking existing governance arrangements
New Publication: Why time matters for understanding the ASM-LSM nexus in south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
This article advocates an approach which pays more attention to issues of time and temporality in places where large-scale forms of mineral extraction clash with small-scale ones.
New Book Review of James Smith’s The Eyes of the World
As an anthropologist, James Smith distinguishes himself from fellow scholars in development studies and political science by striving for a genuinely emic understanding of how various transparancy initiatives have been experienced and given meaning to at the grassroots level by those working and living in and around 3T mines.
Mining ecology, early urbanism and environmental knowledge in Katanga: a deep-time interdisciplinary approach
Through an interdisciplinary approach involving political anthropology, oral history, environmental archaeology and historical linguistics, this project aspires to transform our understanding of the deep-time interactions between artisanal mining ecology, early urbanism, and indigenous ecological knowledge in the southeastern DRC.
The politics of time at the ASM-LSM interface in south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
This project investigates how the politics of time shapes the interaction between ASM (artisanal and small-scale mining) and LSM (large-scale mining) actors in places where the two forms of mining co-occur.
Current research projects:
Mining ecology, early urbanism and environmental knowledge in Katanga: a deep-time interdisciplinary approach
Through an interdisciplinary approach involving political anthropology, oral history, environmental archaeology and historical linguistics, this project aspires to transform our understanding of the deep-time interactions between artisanal mining ecology, early urbanism, and indigenous ecological knowledge in the southeastern DRC.
The politics of time at the ASM-LSM interface in south-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
This project investigates how the politics of time shapes the interaction between ASM (artisanal and small-scale mining) and LSM (large-scale mining) actors in places where the two forms of mining co-occur.