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Diamonds in the Rough - Corporate Paternalism and African Professionalism on the Mines of Colonial Angola, 1917-1975 (Hardcover)
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Diamonds in the Rough - Corporate Paternalism and African Professionalism on the Mines of Colonial Angola, 1917-1975 (Hardcover)
Series: New African Histories
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Diamonds in the Rough explores the lives of African laborers on
Angola's diamond mines from the commencement of operations in 1917
to the colony's independence from Portugal in 1975. The mines were
owned and operated by the Diamond Company of Angola, or Diamang,
which enjoyed exclusive mining and labor concessions granted by the
colonial government. Through these monopolies, the company became
the most profitable enterprise in Portugal's African empire. After
a tumultuous initial period, the company's mines and mining
encampments experienced a remarkable degree of stability, in
striking contrast to the labor unrest and ethnic conflicts that
flared in other regions. Even during the Angolan war for
independence (1961-75), Diamang's zone of influence remained
comparatively untroubled. Todd Cleveland explains that this
unparalleled level of quietude was a product of three factors:
African workers' high levels of social and occupational commitment,
or "professionalism"; the extreme isolation of the mining
installations; and efforts by Diamang to attract and retain scarce
laborers through a calculated paternalism. The company's offer of
decent accommodations and recreational activities, as well as the
presence of women and children, induced reciprocal behavior on the
part of the miners, a professionalism that pervaded both the social
and the workplace environments. This disparity between the
harshness of the colonial labor regime elsewhere and the relatively
agreeable conditions and attendant professionalism of employees at
Diamang opens up new ways of thinking about how Africans in
colonial contexts engaged with forced labor, mining capital, and
ultimately, each other.
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