"ICI ON TRAVAILLE: The role of cooperatives in structuring social relations of production in artisanal and small-scale gold mining in Eastern DRC
基于2022年在刚果民主共和国Misisi金矿的实地研究，分析了合作社如何通过政治、经济和习俗制度控制劳动力，模糊合作与资本主义生产模式界限，影响金矿生产的正式化进程。
This paper explores the organizational dynamics of social relations in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), focusing on the role of mining cooperatives. Drawing on ethnographic research from four week-long visits to Misisi, a key gold site in South Kivu, DRC, in March and April 2022, the study examines the labour regime in ASGM. It highlights how ASGM labour is produced, mobilized and motivated through the socio-economic and cultural frameworks, highlighting mechanisms of labour control and exploitation within the production process. The paper argues that control over ASGM labour power and its exploitation is exerted by a complex interplay of political, economic, and customary institutions, with cooperatives playing a central role in this dynamic. It demonstrates that the current cooperative structures in Misisi derive from both the transition from traditional authority and political ties to resource control, as well as the current formalization process of ASM in Eastern DRC. These cooperatives blur the lines between cooperative and capitalist modes of production, thereby facilitating differentiation, segmentation, and stratification within the gold production chain. This structure not only enables the capture of labour value, but also promotes capital accumulation. The conclusion discusses how this ambiguity may challenge the formalization of artisanal gold labour. • Formalizing artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) has significantly reshaped social relations of production at mining sites. • In Misisi, gold production social relations are shaped by labour dynamics under social, political, economic, and customary control. • The formalization of ASGM has led to the rise of cooperatives, creating powerful entities that organize social relations of production. • These cooperatives increasingly blur the lines between cooperative and capitalist modes of gold production in Misisi. • The inherent ambiguity between these two modes of production poses potential challenges to the ASGM formalization process.