Significations of oil in Africa or

What (more) can anthropologists contribute to the study of oil?

Authors

• Andrea Behrends Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
• Nikolaus Schareika Institut für Ethnologie, Göttingen

DOI: https://doi.org/10.30676/jfas.116661

Abstract

Forum: Anthropology of oil and the resource curse

For half a century, oil production has been a key factor in the development of a small number of African states south of the Sahara. Only now, however, it is  ecoming a source of substantial social, economic and cultural transformation for an increasing number of new African oil states. This is partly due to the fact  that political instability in the Near and Middle East, the inexorable move towards or even passing of ‘peak oil’, the growing demand for oil due to ever  increasing consumption in the emerging countries, and the related rise of crude oil prices have given new importance to African oil. Even hitherto unprofitable deposits in Africa are now seen as an economically and geo-strategically important resource. It is estimated that the share of African oil to  worldwide production could rise from currently 13–18 percent to 25 per cent by 2015. This brief intervention will look at existing studies on (African) oil and ask how social and cultural anthropology could further contribute to the analysis of this socially, politically and economically important conjuncture in world history.