Erdöl und sozialer Wandel in Niger und Tschad. Ein ethnologisches kooperatives Forschungsprojekt zu Technologien, Signifikationen und Prozessen der kreativen Adaptation in Bezug zu afrikanischer Erdölproduktion
Afrika-, Amerika- und Ozeanienbezogene Wissenschaften
Empirische Sozialforschung
Zusammenfassung der Projektergebnisse
The project on oil and social change in Niger and Chad contributed to our understanding of processes of change in emerging oil producers. The moment in time of Niger and Chad becoming new oil producers was used as an opportunity to conduct an ethnographic and anthropological approach to oil production by focusing on transformation processes in real‐time and on actual sites where these transformations could be observed. The collected data was then used for internal comparison and generalization as well as for theoretical advancement of key concepts of the SPP 1448. The main objectives of the project were reflected in three work packages. The first package was aimed at gaining original empirical findings as basis for theoretical advancement. This included five sub‐packages, which looked at the topics of central governance, conflict, the emergence of oil communities, local politics and the transformation of rural livelihoods. The second work package sought to advance trans‐disciplinary and inter‐institutional theory building by engaging in all three clusters of the priority program (significations, technology and space). Finally, the third work package had the training and capacity building of African research institutions and the facilitation of academic careers as its targets. With regard to work package 1, the empirical findings, we would like to highlight five major insights we gained from our ethnographic approach to the field of oil. First, we argue that oil production must be analyzed in the context of pre‐existing political and social structures to understand both oil’s peculiarity and its particular transformative potential. We developed the notion of ‘resource‐political configurations’ to emphasize how travelling elements of oil production connect with economic, social, cultural and political elements in the contexts of their arrival. Oil does not instantaneously change pre‐existing configurations but rather acts incrementally. In oil’s immediate presence, political conflicts are not so much newly created but first of all framed in the language of oil. Second, we refute deterministic claims of oil as a source of conflict. We argue that political contestation should be viewed comprehensively with attention to how the materiality, infrastructure and socio‐technical arrangements of oil articulate within particular pre‐existing regimes of domination and signification. Third, we found that a high inflation of oil money brought about fundamental socio‐cultural changes in extractive communities in Chad triggering processes of monetization of social relations such as marriage, kinship and political alliances with a decried ‘loss of culture.’ In Niger, however, the geographical site of the oil infrastructure did not lend itself to such massive changes due to a considerably lower influx of oil money and a more hostile natural environment for spontaneous settlements. Forth, we discovered that an important difference to Western oil producers was the presence of Chinese companies that enabled rather than limiting linkages from local economies to the oil industry. Fifth, we found local political arenas forming around the oil in which oil was seized as a new idiom in speech acts of naming, blaming and claiming by well‐established political actors who, speaking on the behalf of the subaltern, advanced their own political projects. In sum, oil is neither a blessing nor a curse but acts as a catalyst by opening new potentials, closing others and accelerating context‐specific dynamics. On the level of academic cooperation and capacity building, our project members were active partners in dialogue with fellow researchers in other subprojects and contributed to the vibrant academic exchange facilitated by the SPP. With regard to international cooperation and capacity, we have profited from the fruitful partnerships with our African partner institutes in Niger and Chad. CRASH in Chad and LASDEL in Niger contributed to the project through facilitation of research and workshops as well as with research findings from academics at junior and senior level. We are particularly proud to have seen the completion of several master theses on oil and the (near) completion of several PhD theses in both Germany and Africa.
Projektbezogene Publikationen (Auswahl)
- (2011). Öl, Staat, Ressourcenfluch. In Nikolaus Schareika, Eva Spies und Yves Le Meur (eds) Auf dem Boden der Tatsachen. Festschrift für Thomas Bierschenk, 465‐ 475. Cologne: Köppe Verlag
Behrends, Andrea & Nikolaus Schareika
- 2012. Monetización de los intercambios y relaciones sociales: dinero, matrimonio, parentesco y relaciones de poder. In IPPM, Luis Vittor, Remadji Hoinathy, Alberto Acosta, Ernest Garcia und Jesús Garcia‐Luengos (eds) Postextractivismo: alternativas a un modelo agotado, 16–24. FUHEM Ecosocial. Madrid
Hoinathy, Remadji
- 2013. Pétrole et changement social au Tchad. Rente pétrolière et monétisation des relations économiques et sociales dans la zone pétrolière de Doba. Paris: Karthala
Hoinathy, Remadji
- 2013. “Transnational Governmentality of Energy Security after 9/11: Coup d’état, Terrorism, Militarization, and Oil in Niger.” In Security, life, and death: Governmentality and biopower in the post 9/11 era, Claudio Colaguori (ed), 193–244. Whitby, Ont: De Sitter Publications
Schritt, Jannik
- 2014. Does Rationality Travel? Translating a World Bank Model for fair Revenue Distribution in Chad. In Behrends, Andrea, Sung‐Joon Park & Richard Rottenburg (eds) Travelling Models in African Conflict Management. Translating Technologies of Social Ordering, 76‐91. Leiden: Brill
Hoinathy, Remadji & Andrea Behrends
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004274099_004) - 2014. “Erdöl und Macht in Niger.” Welttrends 97: 46–52
Schritt, Jannik
- 2015. “The “Protests against Charlie Hebdo” in Niger: A Background Analysis.” Africa Spectrum 50 (1): 49–64
Schritt, Jannik
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1177/000203971505000104) - 2016. “From Nuclear Imperialism to Petro Democracy? Resource assemblages and the emergence of a new political configuration in Niger.” Canadian Journal of African Studies
Schritt, Jannik
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1080/00083968.2016.1202850) - 2016. “The petro‐political configuration: Entanglements of Western and Chinese oil zones in Niger.” Zeitschrift für Wirtschaftsgeographie 60 (1‐2): 40–56
Schritt, Jannik
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1515/zfw-2015-0583) - (2017): Creative Encounters: African Trade and Chinese Oil Production in Western Chad. In: Social Analysis 61 (3), S. 41–55
Schareika, Nikolaus
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.3167/sa.2017.610303) - (2017): The Devil’s Money: A Multi‐level Approach to Acceleration and Turbulence in Oil‐Producing Southern Chad. In: Social Analysis 61 (3), S. 56–72
Behrends, Andrea; Hoinathy, Remadji
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.3167/sa.2017.610304) - (2018): Contesting the oil zone: Local content issues in Niger’s oil industry. In: Energy Research & Social Science 41, S. 259–269
Schritt, Jannik
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.04.016) - (2018): Crude controversies: Disputes along Niger’s petro‐infrastructure. Disputes along the petro‐infrastructure in Niger. In: History and Anthropology 29 (5), S. 645–669
Schritt, Jannik
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1080/02757206.2018.1445625) - (2018): Crude Moves: Oil, Power and Politics in Niger. In: Africa Spectrum 53 (2), S. 65–89
Schritt, Jannik; Schareika, Nikolaus
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1177/000203971805300204) - (2018): Standardized capitalism? Negotiating the oil industry’s dis/entanglement in Niger and Uganda. In: Economy and Society 47 (3), S. 428–452
Schritt, Jannik; Witte, Annika
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2018.1533303) - (2018): Well‐Oiled Protest. Adding Fuel to Political Conflicts in Niger. In: Afr. Stud. Rev.
Schritt, Jannik
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1017/asr.2018.19) - (2018): ‘Western’ and ‘Chinese’ Oil Zones. Petro‐Infrastructures and the emergence of new trans‐territorial spaces of order in Niger and Chad. In: Ulf Engel, Marc Böckler und Detlef Müller‐Mahn (Hg.): Spatial Practices. Territory, Border and Infrastructure in Africa. Leiden: Brill
Schritt, Jannik; Behrends, Andrea
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004367012_013) - (2019): Die erweiterte Fallmethode in der Protestforschung. In: Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen 32 (1), S. 58–68
Schritt, Jannik
(Siehe online unter https://doi.org/10.1515/fjsb-2019-0007)
