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“We cannot eat copper dust!”: An ethnographic study of the perceptions of copper mining in Concordia, South Africa
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University
2026
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| _version_ | 1867613813394636800 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | Maree, Shannah Ashleigh |
| author2 | Robins, Steven |
| author_browse | Maree, Shannah Ashleigh Robins, Steven |
| author_facet | Robins, Steven Maree, Shannah Ashleigh |
| author_sort | Maree, Shannah Ashleigh |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | Stellenbosch University |
| description | Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136258 |
| institution | Stellenbosch University (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:42:06.574Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| publisherStr | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | SUNScholar — Stellenbosch University Repository |
| spelling | oai:scholar.sun.ac.za:10019.1/136258 “We cannot eat copper dust!”: An ethnographic study of the perceptions of copper mining in Concordia, South Africa Maree, Shannah Ashleigh Robins, Steven Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Sociology and Social Anthropology. Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2026. Maree, S. A. 2026. “We cannot eat copper dust!”: An ethnographic study of the perceptions of copper mining in Concordia, South Africa. Unpublished masters thesis. Stellenbosch: Stellenbosch University [online]. Available: https://scholar.sun.ac.za/items/3549a91d-0700-4fe5-85ef-fa299c97c8c8 This master’s thesis explores the diverse and contradictory perspectives on the renewed copper mining activity in Concordia, a small town in Namaqualand that was once at the centre of a booming mining industry during the mid-nineteenth and twentieth centuries, now marked by vast socio-economic and ecological challenges. By examining the diverse perspectives surrounding the reinvestment in copper mining on Concordia’s communal land, this thesis highlights the hopes, aspirations, fears, anxieties, and ambivalence that frame how community members and mining representatives envision the town’s future, influenced by this renewed interest. These perspectives are situated within the historical ‘boom-and-bust’ legacies of Namaqualand’s historical copper frontier, and interpreted through the conceptual framework of collective imaginaries, particularly dreamscapes and riskscapes. This thesis employed a qualitative research method that combined unstructured and semi-structured interviews with ethnographic observation, immersing me in the town. My findings suggest that these perceptions highlight tensions which are diversely articulated as community members either expressed: (1) complete support for copper mining, (2) total opposition, (3) support for copper mining but in opposition to the manner in which it is currently being practised, or (4) no opinion. Understanding how these perceptions are shaped through the conceptual framework of dreamscapes and riskscapes, this study highlights the juxtaposition of these coexisting realities. For some, copper mining is part of a ‘development corridor’ driven by the global energy transition, which promises ‘sustainable development’. However, for others, copper mining is a site of contestation with uneven impacts and risks. These contrasting perspectives highlight the current tensions surrounding reinvestment, thereby exposing fractures that characterise contemporary ‘sustainable’ frontiers. This study concludes that Concordia’s social landscape is reconfronted by (re)emerging extractive frontiers in light of the global energy transition. Masters 2026-04-29T13:58:48Z 2026-04-29T13:58:48Z 2026-03 Thesis https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136258 en Stellenbosch University 81 pages application/pdf Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University |
| spellingShingle | Maree, Shannah Ashleigh “We cannot eat copper dust!”: An ethnographic study of the perceptions of copper mining in Concordia, South Africa |
| title | “We cannot eat copper dust!”: An ethnographic study of the perceptions of copper mining in Concordia, South Africa |
| title_full | “We cannot eat copper dust!”: An ethnographic study of the perceptions of copper mining in Concordia, South Africa |
| title_fullStr | “We cannot eat copper dust!”: An ethnographic study of the perceptions of copper mining in Concordia, South Africa |
| title_full_unstemmed | “We cannot eat copper dust!”: An ethnographic study of the perceptions of copper mining in Concordia, South Africa |
| title_short | “We cannot eat copper dust!”: An ethnographic study of the perceptions of copper mining in Concordia, South Africa |
| title_sort | we cannot eat copper dust an ethnographic study of the perceptions of copper mining in concordia south africa |
| url | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/136258 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT mareeshannahashleigh wecannoteatcopperdustanethnographicstudyoftheperceptionsofcoppermininginconcordiasouthafrica |