Sabine Luning
Associate Professor
- Name
- Dr. S.W.J. Luning
- Telephone
- +31 71 527 6614
- sluning@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
- ORCID iD
- 0000-0002-9951-2780
Sabine Luning (1959-2025) It is with great sadness that we share the news that our dear colleague, Sabine Luning, passed away on Thursday, 6 March 2025.
More information about Sabine Luning
News
-
Luning and Hein receive LUF grant to carry out research on infrastructure projects in Ghana and Morocco -
Ship channels and their landscapes require radical reconsideration to meet the energy transition and adapt to climate change -
Visit the virtual Gold Matters exhibition -
Research Gold Matters in Volkskrant report on Burkina Faso -
Burkina Faso: Artisanal Gold Mining in the Context of Violent Insecurity -
What you see is not what you get: things that are not visible are worth studying -
Luning and Van de Camp about the research programme Gold Matters on NWO website -
Sabine Luning receives NORFACE grant for ST-ASGM project (lead: UK) -
GI grants awarded to Mariana Francozo, Sabine Luning and Wayne Modest
Blogs
Sabine Luning worked at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology where she focused her research and teaching on economic anthropology and issues of sustainability. In the past, she worked in development projects and ever since she retained an interest in the social relations, power dynamics and organizational culture of development initiatives. Later on, she worked on social aspects of large-scale and small-scale gold mining foremost in Burkina Faso, but also in Ghana, Suriname, French Guyana, and Canada. She was interested in the effects of global connections on local situations, e.g. the dynamics around industrial mines of Transnational Companies operating in West Africa. Moreover, she developed research interest in the relation between mining and disputes over water (e.g. competition over water distribution, and effects for local livelihoods of water infrastructure built by mining companies).
Past research project
She focused on Landscapes of Extraction, with a particular interest in how mining affects water quality and distribution in West Africa. She collaborated with modellers (e.g. hydrologists and mining engineers), visual anthropologists, artists, and photographers to combine different methods of visualizing landscape dynamics. Together with people who live and work in different local areas, they co-produced images on the ground, underground and from the air in order to engage in sustainability conversations. From December 2o18 onwards these methods and collaborations will be developed further in the NORFACE project: Sustainability Transformations in Artisanal and Small-scale Gold Mining: A Multi-Actor and Trans-Regional Perspective - ST-ASGM. Together with Paul Hudson, she coordinated the Water & Society Lab, a cooperation between the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology (CADS/FSW) and Leiden University College (LUC/FGGA). She was one of the leads of the LDE program PortCityFutures.
Relevant links
-
International project Gold Matters - small-scale gold miners inspire each other (NWO - 20/04/2020)
-
Radio 1 - VPRO Bureau Buitenland: 'De coup in Burkina Faso' (22/09/2015)
-
Sleutelstad.fm: 'Goud in Burkina Faso' (23/09/2015)
Associate Professor
- Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen
- Culturele Antropologie/ Ontw. Sociologie
- Luning S.W.J. (2023), Underground. In: D’Angelo L. & Pijpers R.J. (Eds.), The anthropology of resource extraction. London: Routledge.
- Fisher E., Luning S., Obodai N., Araujo C.H., Calvimontes J., Camp E. van de, D’Angelo L., Lanzano C., Massaro L., Pereira Mello J., Resende de Campos R., Ouedraogo A., Pijpers R.J., Sawadogo C., Theije M. de, Tuhumwire M. & Twongyirwe R. (2023), Gold matters: visualizing mining worlds. Uppsala: The Nordic Africa Institute.
- Littlejohn A.L., Boy J.D., De Musso F., Grasseni C., Kanters C.L., Luning S.W.J., Meerendonk T. van de, Minter T., Ochigame R.K. & Spierenburg M.J. (2022), Remodeling environments: anthropological perspectives on the limits of computational models. 8th Workshop on Computing within Limits 21 June 2022 - 22 June 2022.
- Pijpers R.J. & Luning S.W.J. (2021), 'We have so many challenges’: small‐scale mining, Covid‐19 and constant interruptions in West Africa, Anthropology Today 37(2): 10-14.
- Hein C., Luning S. & Laar P. van de (2021), Port city cultures, values, and maritime mindsets: defining what makes port cities special, The European Journal of Creative Practices in Cities and Landscapes 4(1): 7–20.
- Fisher E., Luning S., D’Angelo L., Araujo C.H., de Balme L. A., Calvimontes J., van de Camp E., da Costa Ferreira L., Lanzano C., Massaro L., Ouedraogo A., Perreira Mello J., Pijpers R.J., Obodai Provençal N., Resenda de Moraes R., Sawadogo C., de Theije M., de Tomi T. & Twongyirwe R. (2021), Transforming matters: sustaining gold lifeways in artisanal and small-scale mining, Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 49: 190-200.
- Lanzano C., Luning S. & Ouédraogo A. (2021), Insecurity in Burkina Faso–beyond conflict minerals: the complex links between artisanal gold mining and violence. Uppsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet/The Nordic Africa Institute.
- Sabine Luning (Principal curator), Rose van Zijl (Art Direction and Graphic Design), Eleanor Fisher (Project Lead), Cristiano Lanzano, Esther van de Camp, Marjo de Theije, Lúcia da Costa Ferreira, Jorge Calvimontes, Luciana Massaro, Januária Pereira Mello, Raíssa Resende de Moraes, Giorgio de Tomi, Carlos Henrique Xavier Araujo, Ronald Twongyirwe, Margaret Tuhumwire, Christophe Sawadogo, Nii Obodai, Alizèta Ouedraogo, Luigi Arnaldi di Balme, Romain Ronceray, Lorenzo D’Angelo & obert Pijpers (30 September 2021), Exhibition Gold Matters. [web article].
- Luning S.W.J. (2020), Burkina Faso: Global Gold Expansion and Local Terrains . In: Verbrugge B. & Geenen S. (Eds.), Global Gold Production Touching Ground. Expansion, Technological Innovation, and Informalization.: Palgrave MacMillan. 207-223.
- Luning S.W.J. (2020), Burkina Faso: Global Gold Expansion and Local Terrains. In: Verbrugge Boris Geenen Sara (Ed.), Global Gold Production Touching Ground. Expansion, Technological Innovation, and Informalization. London: Palgrave MacMillan. 207-223.
- Luning S.W.J. & De Theije M. (2019), Rubbish at the Border. A Minefield of Conservationist Politics at the Lawa River, Suriname/French Guiana. In: Eriksen T.H. & Pijpers R.J. (Eds.), Mining Encounters: Pluto Press. 59-77.
- Weerd M. van, Gatan-Balbas M., Luning S. & Taggueg J. (2019), International course on water and water management in the Philippines: 6 January - 1 February 2019. Leiden, the Netherlands and Cabagan, the Philippines: Leiden University, Isabela State Universit and the Mabuwaya Foundation.
- Westmoreland M.R. & Luning S. (22 March 2018), Footage of Failure: Multimodality in Practice. Leiden Anthropology Blog. Leiden: Institute CAOS. [blog entry].
- Westmoreland M.R., Luning S., Obodai N. & Akuoku-Frimpong D. (2018), Broken Ground (Mamprusi and Pong Tamale, Ghana) (Spellerberg Project’s Masur Gallery). [other].
- Westmoreland M.R., Luning S. & Yussif B.S. (2018), “Breeding Identities, Feeding Cities” (aerial photo composite Pong Tamale, Ghana). [other].
- Luning S. (2018), Mining temporalities: Future perspectives, Extractive Industries and Society 5(2): 281-286.
- Luning S.W.J. & Pijpers R.J. (2018), Shifting alliances in accessing the underground, Africa 88(4): 876-880.
- Luning S. & Pijpers R.J. (2017), Governing access to gold in Ghana: In-depth geopolitics on mining concessions, Africa 87(4): 758-779.
- Luning S.W.J. (2017), Characteristics of Mining Projects: Shifting values in negotiations over access to land and water in Burkina Faso. Anthropological Association of Applied Anthropology, Santa Fe, USA. March 2017. Annual Meeting Anthropological Association of Applied Anthropology 6 March 2017 - 6 March 2017.
- Luning S.W.J. (2017), Global Earth Matters: Mining, Materiality and the Museum – Silver. Workshop Research Center for Material Culture, Leiden. October 2017. third Global Earth Matters workshop on Silver & Resource Futures 20 October 2017 - 20 October 2017.
- Luning S.W.J. (2017), Mining Companies: Mine fields of Professional Relations? Conference Mining in comparative perspective: trends, transformations. Ghent. December 2017. Conference: Mining in comparative perspective: trends, transformations 13 December 2017 - 14 December 2017.
- Luning S.W.J. (2017), Worlds of Water Connections: It is more fun with Gerard Persoon. In: Minter T. (Ed.), Woudreus - Giant of the Forest. Reflections on the working life of Prof. Gerard Persoon 197-201.
- Luning S.W.J. & Pijpers R.J. (2017), Governing access to gold in Ghana: In-depth geopolitics on mining concessions, Africa 87(4): 758-779.
- Weerd M. van, Taggueg J., Luning S., Masipiquena M., Kok R., Gatan-Balbas M., Osterhaus-Simic N. & Persoon G.A. (2016), The World of Water - The International Course on Water Use and Management in Cagayan Valley - The Philippines (2011-2015). Leiden: Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology Leiden University.
- Weerd M. van, Taggueg J., Luning S., Gatan-Balbas M., Servitillo J. & Persoon G. (2016), International course on water and water management in the Philippines: 5 January - 31 January 2016. Leiden, the Netherlands and Cabagan, the Philippines: Leiden University, Isabela State University and the Mabuwaya Foundation.
- De Theije M. & Luning S. (2016), Small-scale mining and cross-border movements of gold from French Guiana. In: Collomb G. & Mam Lam Fouck S. (Eds.), Mobilités, ethnicités, diversité culturelle: la Guyane entre Surinam et Brésil. Matoury: Ibis Rouge. 141-161.
- Luning S.W.J. & De Theije M. (2015), Small scale mining and the routes travelled by gold that is illegally produced in French Guiana. Amsterdam and Cayenne: GOMIAM and WWF-France.
- Luning S., Jansen J.A.M.M. & Panella C. (2014), The Mise en Valeur of the gold mines in the Haut-Niger, 1918-1939, French Colonial History 15: 67-87.
- Luning S. & De Theije M. (2014), Global gold connections: Ethical consumption and the beuaty of bonding Artisanes. In: Barendregt B. & Jaffe R. (Eds.), Green Consumption: The Global Rise of Eco-Chic: Bloomsbury. 56-73.
- Luning S.W.J. (2014), The future of artisanal miners from a large-scale perspective: From valued pathfinders to disposable illegals?, Futures 62(A): 67-74.
- Luning S.W.J. (2013), Gold from 'Rock to Ring', Etnofoor 25(2): 159-174.
- Luning S.W.J. (2012), Gold, cosmology, and change in Burkina Faso. In: Panella C. (Ed.), Lives in Motion, Indeed. Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Social Change in Honour of Danielle de Lame.. Tervuren: Royal Museum for Central Africa. 323-340.
- Luning S.W.J. (2012), "Ils dépassent les bornes" de la propriété: Histoires de mineurs et de montagnes au Burkina Faso. In: Lame D. de & Mazzocchetti J. (Eds.), Interfaces empiriques de la mondialisation African junctions under the neoliberal development paradigm.. Tervuren: Africa, Koninklijk Museum voor Midden-Afrika. 121-143.
- Van Weerd M., Masipiqueña M.D., Taggueg J.B., Luning S.W.J. & Persoon G.A. (2012), International course on water and water management in the Philippines: 3 January - 5 February 2012. Leiden: Leiden University and Isabela State University.
- Luning S.W.J. (2012), Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for exploration: Consultants, companies and communities in processes of engagements, Resources Policy 36: 205-211.
- Luning S.W.J. (2012), Processing promises of gold: A Minefield of Company-Community Relations in Burkina Faso, Africa Today 58(3): 23-39.
- Luning S.W.J. (2011), Mossi Houses; Places for meetings and movements. In: Cassiman A. (Ed.), Architectures of Belonging: Inhabiting Worlds in Rural West Africa.. Antwerpen: BAI Publishers. 111-130.
- Luning S.W.J. (2010), Nouvelles Choses: Rites et politique dans la Chefferie de Maane (Burkina Faso), 1969-2000. Münster/ Hamburg: Lit Verlag.
- Luning S.W.J. (2010), Beyond the pale of property: Gold miners meddling with mountains in Burkina Faso. In: Panella Cristiana (Ed.), Worlds of debts: Interdisciplinary perspectives on gold mining in West Africa. Amsterdam: Rozenberg Publishers. 25-48.
- Luning S.W.J. (2010), Narrating Corruption: REN-LAC and the predicaments of opposition in Burkina Faso. In: Hilgers M. & Mazzocchetti J. (Eds.), Révoltes et oppositions dans un régime semi-autoritaire. Le cas du Burkina-Faso. Paris: Karthala. 224-239.
- Gewald J.B., Luning S.W.J. & Walraven K. van (2009), Motor Vehicles and people in Africa: An introduction. In: Gewald J.B., Luning S.W.J. & Walraven K. van (Eds.), The Speed of Change: Motor Vehicles and People in Africa, 1890 - 2000 1-8.
- Luning S.W.J. (2009), Gold in Burkina Faso: A wealth of poison and promise. In: Jansen J., Luning S.W.J. & Maaker E. de (Eds.), Traditions on the Move - essays in Honor of Jarich Oosten. Amsterdam: Rozenberg. 117-137.
- Luning S.W.J. (2009), A Chief’s Fatal Car Accident: Political History and Moral Geography in Burkina Faso. In: Gewald J.B., Luning S.W.J. & Walraven K. van (Eds.), The Speed of Change: Motor Vehicles and People in Africa, 1890 - 2000. Leiden: Brill. 232-253.
- Jansen J., Luning S.W.J. & Maaker E. de (Eds.) (2009), Traditions on the move. Essays in honour of Jarich Oosten. Amsterdam: Rozenberg.
- Gewald J.B., Luning S.W.J. & Walraven K. van (Eds.) (2009), The Speed of Change: Motor Vehicles and People in Africa, 1890 - 2000. Brill: Leiden.
- Gewald J.B., Luning S.W.J. & Walraven K. van (2009), The speed of change: motor vehicles and people in Africa, 1890-2000. Afrika-Studiecentrum series no. 13. Leiden: Brill.
- Luning S.W.J. (2008), Gold mining in Sanmatenga, Burkina Faso: Governing sites, appropriating wealth. In: Abbink J. & Dokkum A. van (Eds.), Dilemmas of development: Conflicts of interest and their resolutions in modernizing Africa. Leiden: ASC. 195-211.
- Luning S.W.J. (2008), Liberalisation of the Gold Mining sector in Burkina Faso, Review of African Political Economy 117: 25-39.
- Luning S.W.J. (2007), Ritual territories as local heritage? Discourse on disruptions in society and nature in Maane, Burkina Faso, Africa 77(1): 86-103.
- Luning S.W.J. (2007), Burkina Faso. In: Mehler A., Melber H. & Walraven K. van (Eds.), Africa Yearbook 2006: Politics, economy and society south of the Sahara.. Leiden: Brill. 61-69.
- Luning S.W.J. (2007), Connections in the goldmining sector of Burkina Faso. Agioutantis Z. (Ed.), Sustainable Development Indicators in the Minerals Industry, 3rd International Conference. Sustainable Development Indicators in the Minerals Industry, 3rd Int. Conference. Conference Proceedings. Milos: Hiliotopos. 351-357.
- Luning S.W.J. (2006), Verlegen om geld, in verlegenheid met geld? Sociale relaties, geld en veldwerk in Burkina Faso. In: Jansen J. (Ed.), Sub-Sahara Afrika. Perspectieven en plaatsbepalingen. Amsterdam: Aksant. 47-71.
- Luning S.W.J. (2006), The Mossi chief. In: Jones A. (Ed.), Men of the Global South: A reader. London: Zed Books. 208-211.
- Luning S.W.J. (2006), Representing rituals: To do and to see ritual practices. In: Crawford M.P. (Ed.), Evaluating Visual Ethnography. Research, analysis, representation and culture. Leiden/Aarhus: CNWS Publications/ Intervention Press. 270-293.
- Luning S.W.J. (2006), Burkina Faso. In: Mehler A., Melber H. & Walraven K. van (Eds.), Africa Yearbook 2005: Politics, Economy and Society South of the Sahara. Leiden: Brill. 51-58.
- Luning S.W.J. (2006), Artisanal gold mining in Burkina Faso: Permits, poverty and perceptions of the poor in Sanmatenga, the land of gold''. In: Hilson G.M. (Ed.), Small-scale mining, rural subsistence and poverty in West-Africa. Rugby, UK: Practical Action Publishing. 135-148.
- Luning S.W.J., Gewald J.B. & Sijsma S. (2006), Global goldrush documentary. [film].
- Luning S.W.J. (2005), Money as a gift: marriage, exchange and sociality in Maane, Burkina Faso. In: Wooten S. (Ed.), Wari Matters: Ethnographic Explorations of Money in the Mande World. Münster: Lit Verlag. 57-79.
- Luning S.W.J. (2005), Ritual territories and the Dynamics in the annual Bush Fire Practices of Maane, Burkina Faso. In: Cormier-Salem M.C., Juhé-Beaulaton D., Boutrais J. & Roussel B. (Eds.), Patrimoines naturels au sud. Territoires, identités et savoirs locaux. Paris: IRD Editions. 443-475.
- Hoven E. van, Jansen J., Luning S.W.J. & Timmer B. (2005), Autochthony and strangerhood in the Mande - Volta area. Kwaak A. van der, Spronk R. & Willemse K. (Eds.), From modern myths to global encounters. Belonging and the dynamics of change in postcolonial Africa. . Leiden: CNWS publications. 127-145.
- Luning S.W.J. (2003), Les chefs de terre à Maane : le discours sur la répartition des territoires et le voisinage (province du Sanmatenga). Kuba R., Lentz C. & Somda C. (Eds.), Histoire du peuplement et relations interethniques au Burkina Faso. Colloque. Paris: Karthala. 59-75.
- Luning S.W.J. (2002), To drink or not to drink. In: Bryceson D. (Ed.), Alcohol in Africa: Mixing Business, Pleasure and Politics with Culture. Portsmouth: Heinemann. 231-248.
- Luning S.W.J. (2002), Royal rituals and national politics in Maane: a comparison of two cases of successions in 1963 and 1993. Madiega G. (Ed.), Burkina Faso. Cent ans d’Histoire, 1895 – 1995. Colloque, Burkina Faso. Cent ans d’Histoire, Ouagadougou. Paris: Karthala. 853-876.
- Luning S.W.J. (1997), History of the Mossi Chiefdoms. In: Middleton J. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Sub-Saharan Africa. New York: Simon and Schuster. 189-191.
- Luning S.W.J. (6 November 1997), Het binnenhalen van de oogst. Ritueel en samenleving in Maane (Dissertatie, Leiden University). Leiden: CNWS. Supervisor(s): Geschiere P.L. & Oosten J.G.