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Accepted Paper:
Betting on luck or, how to cope with uncertainty in the artisanal diamond mining
Lorenzo D'Angelo
(Sapienza University of Rome)
Paper long abstract:
In many Sub-Saharan African countries, artisanal mining seems to attract more people when national economies are in crisis. It follows that, in Sierra Leone there are still numerous people looking for fortune in the diamond mines in spite of the ill-omened forecasts on the productivity of potential remaining deposits.
But given that chance plays an important role in the recovery of the most valuable gems and, thus consequently, earnings from the extraction of diamonds are not guaranteed, why do these miners invest their symbolic and material capital in mining? Should we consider the economy of artisanal diamond mining as a "casino economy" in which the actors bet on their own luck?
Through this paper I will focus on these questions examining, on one hand, how the winnings are shared between the miners and, on the other hand, exploring the notion of "luck" implicit in their practices.