{"id":151,"date":"2012-03-27T11:53:14","date_gmt":"2012-03-27T15:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/web.colby.edu\/contemporary-issues\/?page_id=151"},"modified":"2012-05-21T01:05:41","modified_gmt":"2012-05-21T05:05:41","slug":"conflict-minerals-career-biography","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/contemporary-issues\/conflict-minerals-career-biography\/","title":{"rendered":"Career Biography"},"content":{"rendered":"

James H. Smith<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Why James Smith<\/strong><\/h3>\n

We selected James Smith because of his intensive fieldwork in coltan mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. \u00a0His research focuses on local understandings of the mineral trade and delineates the connection between American electronic consumerism and violence in eastern Congo. \u00a0His insights on the situation on the ground in the Congo and his focus on local perception are critical for an informed analysis of the effects of Western activism around conflict minerals.<\/p>\n

Education:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

– 2002, PhD, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago
\n– MA, Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago
\n– BA, Anthropology and Social Thought\/Political Economy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst (Commonwealth Honors College)
\n– Other: Rockefeller Fellowship in Religion, Conflict, and Peace-building at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, the University of Notre Dame (2003-04).<\/p>\n

Current Employment:\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

James Smith is an Associate Professor of Anthropology at UC Davis.\u00a0He teaches a variety of courses including: \u201cAnthropology of Development,\u201d \u201cCultures and Societies of East and South Africa,\u201d and Introduction to \u201cCultural Anthropology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Research Focus:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Cultural Politics of Time;\u00a0Globalized Substances;\u00a0DR Congo Coltan Mining and the Digital Age;\u00a0Vernacular “Development” Discourses and Practices;\u00a0Religious Utopias and Neotraditionalist Movements;\u00a0Resource Struggles and Politics in Africa;\u00a0the Politics of Witchcraft and Sorcery in Africa;\u00a0Africa (especially East and Central).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Main Publications Used in Analysis:<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The main article that we used by James Smith in our analysis was “Tantalus in the Digital Age: Coltan ore, temporal dispossession, and “movement” in the Eastern DR Congo.”<\/a> \u00a0This article explained the “paradoxical value potentials” of coltan mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. \u00a0Smith explores a variety of different local Congolese views of the power of coltan and its potential for local and global power. \u00a0 We also relied heavily on the material found in Smith’s article co-written with Jeffrey Mantz, “Do Cell Phones Dream of Civil War?: \u00a0The Mystification of Production and the Consequences of Technology Fetishism in the Eastern Congo and Beyond, in Inclusion and Exclusion in the Global Arena.”<\/a> \u00a0This article explores similar themes to the first, but explores the relationship of violence and minerals more in-depth.<\/p>\n

Bibliography:\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

–2011 Tantalus in the Digital Age: Coltan ore, temporal dispossession, and “movement” in the Eastern DR Congo. American Ethnologist, Volume 38, Number 1, pp. 17-35<\/span><\/p>\n

Examines the temporality and difference in localized understanding of the role of Coltan mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. \u00a0Explores local perceptions of mining from the eyes of various sectors of the Congolese people including\u00a0diggers, traders, state and military authorities, and civilians. \u00a0Focus remains on local imagination and global connectivity through the eyes of the Congolese people.\u00a0<\/em><\/h5>\n

–2008 Bewitching Development: Witchcraft and the Reinvention of Development in Neoliberal Kenya (the University of Chicago Press, Practices of Meaning Series).<\/p>\n

Provides a discourse about different understandings of development on the ground in neoliberal Africa and the importance of placing development in a localized cultural context. \u00a0Explores the role of local imagination in these development initiatives specifically through the lens of witchcraft and provides a critique of traditional neoliberal development practices.\u00a0<\/em><\/h5>\n

–<\/strong>-2006 (with Jeffrey Mantz), Do Cell Phones Dream of Civl War?: \u00a0The Mystification of Production and the Consequences of Technology Fetishism in the Eastern Congo and Beyond, in Inclusion and Exclusion in the Global Arena, Max Kirsch, ed. (Routledge).<\/span><\/p>\n

Provides a discourse that attempts to de-mystify international understandings of the role of mineral extraction in DR Congo. \u00a0Explores the relationship between mineral mining, violence, and Western consumerism. \u00a0Focuses on Congolese perception of mining and local understandings of global connectivity and global exclusion.\u00a0<\/em><\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

James H. Smith Why James Smith We selected James Smith because of his intensive fieldwork in coltan mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. \u00a0His research focuses on local understandings of the mineral trade and delineates the connection between … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3398,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/contemporary-issues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/contemporary-issues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/contemporary-issues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/contemporary-issues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3398"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/contemporary-issues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151"}],"version-history":[{"count":43,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/contemporary-issues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":814,"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/contemporary-issues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/151\/revisions\/814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/contemporary-issues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}