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(En)Gendering the mineral supply chain: women's work and livelihoods in 3T extractivism in Africa's Great Lakes region
This dissertation examines the everyday working context of women along the 3T mineral supply chain in Africa's Great Lakes region. 3T's (tin, tungsten and tantalum) are collectively known as “digital minerals” and classified as critical minerals, central to the production of digital technologies. Us...
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English Eng |
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ANS: Anthropology
2026
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| _version_ | 1869483643377811456 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Furniss, Allison |
| author2 | Ross, Fiona |
| author_browse | Furniss, Allison Ross, Fiona |
| author_facet | Ross, Fiona Furniss, Allison |
| author_sort | Furniss, Allison |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | This dissertation examines the everyday working context of women along the 3T mineral supply chain in Africa's Great Lakes region. 3T's (tin, tungsten and tantalum) are collectively known as “digital minerals” and classified as critical minerals, central to the production of digital technologies. Using a broad definition of extractivism, this research focuses on women who work in artisanal and small-scale mines (ASM), as well as women in downstream production roles along the supply chain. This includes female mineral traders, transporters, mine owners and women working along the export route. As a multi-sited ethnography, this study uses participant observation, interview and focus group methodologies. The androcentrism of extractivism creates a working context with significant gendered divisions of labour, gendered vulnerabilities and barriers to work. Due to these factors, women experience various extractive violences in gendered ways. These include subtle violences that are material and embodied, premised on disposability. Nevertheless, within the overall working context for women, I argue that women's everyday actions, how they narrate their everyday working context and their “ways of operating” all show that women seek to reframe and insert themselves into dominant narratives, reject victimisation and reappropriate space and place in extractivism. These combined factors contribute to a slow acceptance of their participation. Lastly, I show that as one follows the chain of production, women's participation in extractivism decreases as economic opportunities increase, in an inverse relationship. By focusing on women who put the 3T mineral supply chain in motion and whose labour contributes to the manufacturing of digital technologies, this dissertation (en)genders a global supply chain. This research is based on 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2022-2023 in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43326 |
| institution | University of Cape Town (South Africa) |
| language | English Eng |
| last_indexed | 2026-07-01T04:02:15.631Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | ANS: Anthropology |
| publisherStr | ANS: Anthropology |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository |
| spelling | oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/43326 (En)Gendering the mineral supply chain: women's work and livelihoods in 3T extractivism in Africa's Great Lakes region Furniss, Allison Ross, Fiona women ASM 3T's global supply chains Central Africa mining gender the everyday This dissertation examines the everyday working context of women along the 3T mineral supply chain in Africa's Great Lakes region. 3T's (tin, tungsten and tantalum) are collectively known as “digital minerals” and classified as critical minerals, central to the production of digital technologies. Using a broad definition of extractivism, this research focuses on women who work in artisanal and small-scale mines (ASM), as well as women in downstream production roles along the supply chain. This includes female mineral traders, transporters, mine owners and women working along the export route. As a multi-sited ethnography, this study uses participant observation, interview and focus group methodologies. The androcentrism of extractivism creates a working context with significant gendered divisions of labour, gendered vulnerabilities and barriers to work. Due to these factors, women experience various extractive violences in gendered ways. These include subtle violences that are material and embodied, premised on disposability. Nevertheless, within the overall working context for women, I argue that women's everyday actions, how they narrate their everyday working context and their “ways of operating” all show that women seek to reframe and insert themselves into dominant narratives, reject victimisation and reappropriate space and place in extractivism. These combined factors contribute to a slow acceptance of their participation. Lastly, I show that as one follows the chain of production, women's participation in extractivism decreases as economic opportunities increase, in an inverse relationship. By focusing on women who put the 3T mineral supply chain in motion and whose labour contributes to the manufacturing of digital technologies, this dissertation (en)genders a global supply chain. This research is based on 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2022-2023 in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania. 2026-06-17T10:05:53Z 2026-06-17T10:05:53Z 2026 2026-06-17T10:03:45Z Thesis / Dissertation Doctoral PhD http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43326 en Eng application/pdf ANS: Anthropology Faculty of Humanities University of Cape Town |
| spellingShingle | women ASM 3T's global supply chains Central Africa mining gender the everyday Furniss, Allison (En)Gendering the mineral supply chain: women's work and livelihoods in 3T extractivism in Africa's Great Lakes region |
| thesis_degree_str | Doctoral |
| title | (En)Gendering the mineral supply chain: women's work and livelihoods in 3T extractivism in Africa's Great Lakes region |
| title_full | (En)Gendering the mineral supply chain: women's work and livelihoods in 3T extractivism in Africa's Great Lakes region |
| title_fullStr | (En)Gendering the mineral supply chain: women's work and livelihoods in 3T extractivism in Africa's Great Lakes region |
| title_full_unstemmed | (En)Gendering the mineral supply chain: women's work and livelihoods in 3T extractivism in Africa's Great Lakes region |
| title_short | (En)Gendering the mineral supply chain: women's work and livelihoods in 3T extractivism in Africa's Great Lakes region |
| title_sort | en gendering the mineral supply chain women s work and livelihoods in 3t extractivism in africa s great lakes region |
| topic | women ASM 3T's global supply chains Central Africa mining gender the everyday |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/11427/43326 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT furnissallison engenderingthemineralsupplychainwomensworkandlivelihoodsin3textractivisminafricasgreatlakesregion |