Book Talk

The Commodifying Compassion project and the Centre for Business and Development Studies are pleased to invite you to

Conflict minerals Inc.: How Business and Advocacy Commodify Compassion.

		February 1st, 15:00-16:30   Copenhagen Business School Dalgas Have 15, 2000 Frederiksberg DH.V.2.88 (Second floor, west end, close to the centre of the building)
Abstract Conflict Minerals, Inc. offers a specific case study of conflict minerals and mineral regulation in Eastern Congo, connecting with the themes around Commodifying Compassion, by looking at how the privatization of public development efforts contribute to these commodification processes.  The book demonstrates how the relations between faraway misery, violence and Western advocacy are mediated. Batman Saves the Congo by Budabin and Richey and Conflict Minerals, Inc. show how Western advocacy and policy have relied on colonial frames to drive change, and how White Saviorism sustain forms of structural violence and inequality across global supply and value chains. Whereas Batman Saves the Congo by Budabin and Richey examines the disruptive role of elite politics, business and the role of the rich and famous in development and humanitarianism, Vogel’s Conflict Minerals, Inc. explains the impacts of Western advocacy on the ground, exposing the disruptive impacts of the conflict minerals paradigm within eastern Congo’s political economy, the policy responses it triggered and their impacts on artisanal miners. This seminar will take up the key challenges of mixing for-profit businesses with humanitarian helping.   About the Author: Christoph N. Vogel is an award-winning investigator of conflicts in Central Africa. He is Research Director of the Insecure Livelihoods project at Ghent University, and has worked with the UN. Christoph holds a PhD from the University of Zurich and helped develop the Congo Research Group at New York University.

Programme

15:00-15:20 Christoph N. Vogel presents Conflict Minerals, Inc. 

15:20-15:30 Comment from Shyamain Wickramasingha, Postdoc, Copenhagen Business School 

15:30-15:40 Comment from Lisa Ann Richey, Professor of Globalization, Copenhagen Business School 

15:40-15:50 Comment from Kasper Hoffmann, Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen 

15:50 – 16:00 Author responds

16:00-16:30 Open discussion 

16:30 Small reception 

Chair: Lindsay Whitfield (Professor of Business and Development, Copenhagen Business School) 

Discussants: 

Shyamain Wickramasingha (Postdoc, Copenhagen Business School) 

Kasper Hoffmann (Assistant Professor, University of Copenhagen) 

Lisa Ann Richey (Professor of Globalization, Copenhagen Business School) 

About the Book: In the twenty-first century, the relationship between violent conflict and natural resources has become a matter of intense public and academic debate. As a result of fervent activism and international campaigning, the flagship case of ‘conflict minerals’ has captured global attention. This term groups together the artisanal tin, tantalum (coltan), tungsten and gold originating from war zones in Central Africa. Known as ‘digital minerals’ for their use in high-end technology, their exploitation and trade has been singled out in numerous media and United Nations reports as a key driver of violence, provoking an unprecedented popular outcry and prompting transnational efforts to promote ‘conflict-free’, ethical mining. Focusing on the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Conflict Minerals, Inc. is the first comprehensive analysis of this phenomenon. Based on meticulous investigation and long-term fieldwork, this book analyses why the campaign against ‘unethical’ mining went awry, and radically disrupted eastern Congo’s political economy. It dissects the evolution of the conflict minerals paradigm, the policy responses it triggered and their impact on artisanal miners. Vogel demonstrates how Western advocacy and policy have relied on colonial frames to drive change, and how White Saviourism perpetuates structural violence and inequality across global supply and value chains.