Reconfiguring Livelihoods, Re-Imagining Spaces of Transboundary Resource Management: A Study of Mining and Agency along the Zimbabwe-Mozambique Border

在非洲许多地区，不断变化的跨境移民模式正在改变边界对被边缘化人口的重要性。最近的文献警告说，关于边境地区非法行为的简单化叙述使解决社会不平等的努力复杂化。这项研究审查了津巴布韦-莫桑比克边境农村生计的社会和政治层面，并结合目前关于该地区跨界资源管理的辩论，重点关注莫桑比克马尼卡手工金矿社区的前景，津巴布韦手工矿工在那里与莫桑比克人并肩生活和工作。这项研究探讨了流离失所对不同的农村行为者意味着什么，以及如何谈判在追求依赖资源的生计方面面临的挑战，最终目标是加强解决边境两侧生计不安全问题的政策。津巴布韦-莫桑比克边境是研究的高度优先事项，因为随着津巴布韦经济和政治危机的加深，大量津巴布韦人越境进入莫桑比克，从事手工采矿。从经验上讲，这项研究解决了三个相互关联的研究问题：1)跨界流动如何为边界附近/沿线手工采矿社区重新配置的生计带来新的机遇或相反的新挑战？2)全球和国家机构在处理跨界资源管理政策时在多大程度上考虑了这些挑战和机遇？3)正式的手工矿工协会和非正式的手工矿工群体(在边界两侧)如何在社会上参与争夺边界附近/在边界的土地的过程？通过深入的生活史访谈、焦点小组、实地日记、视觉方法和与手工采矿协会的参与者观察，该研究将探讨采矿社区的妇女和男子如何谈判生计斗争，分析跨越边界的社会和经济联系。这项研究将分析与跨界资源治理有关的采矿、流离失所和移徙问题的观点，审查政策文件，并与国家和地区政府当局、公司和民间社会组织进行访谈。这项研究将产生原始数据，并提供新的见解，以便在边界土地研究中进行概念和政策辩论以及相关的方法和伦理辩论。该分析旨在为地理学、发展研究、非洲研究和不断增长的边疆研究领域的研究人员以及政策制定者提供信息。2011年，非洲联盟与设在爱丁堡大学的非洲边境研究网络签署了一份谅解备忘录，强调需要开展研究，以支持改善边境地区生计的政策制定。鉴于包括津巴布韦和莫桑比克在内的120多个国家最近签署的一项全球环境条约，该项目尤其及时，该条约要求各国政府采取新措施管理手工黄金开采。政府官员表示，需要进行研究，为2015-2020年期间执行条约的国家行动计划提供信息。该项目的区域研讨会将共同产生知识，同时建设津巴布韦、莫桑比克和英国的手工采矿协会、政府机构、民间社会和大学的当地能力。将通过书籍、文章、简报、讲座和课程传播理论、伦理和方法见解，为边界研究和采掘业研究交汇处的横向辩论提供信息。该项目以过去与联合国机构合作的经验为基础，将在培养领导南北合作研究的新技能方面发挥变革性作用，为区域、国家和全球各级的政策制定者提供信息。

In many parts of Africa, changing patterns of cross-border migration are transforming the importance of borders for marginalised populations. Recent literature cautions that simplified narratives about illegality in border zones are complicating efforts at addressing social inequities. This research examines social and political dimensions of rural livelihoods along the Zimbabwe-Mozambique border in conjunction with current debates about transboundary resource management in the region, focusing on perspectives in artisanal gold mining communities in Manica, Mozambique, where Zimbabwean artisanal miners live and work side-by-side with Mozambicans. The study explores what displacement means to different rural actors and how challenges are negotiated in pursuing resource-dependent livelihoods, with the ultimate goal of enhancing policies for addressing livelihood insecurity on both sides of the border.The Zimbabwe-Mozambique border is a high priority for research, as large numbers of Zimbabweans have crossed into Mozambique as Zimbabwe's economic and political crisis deepened and are engaging in artisanal mining. Empirically, the study addresses three interlinked research questions: 1) How does mobility across the border represent new opportunities or, conversely, new challenges, for reconfigured livelihoods in artisanal mining communities near/along the border?; 2) To what extent are global and national institutions taking these challenges and opportunities into consideration in their approach to transboundary resource management policies?; 3) How are formal artisanal miners associations and informal groups of artisanal miners (on both sides of the border) socially engaged in processes of contesting land near/at the border?Through in-depth life history interviews, focus groups, field diaries, visual methods and participant observation with artisanal mining associations, the study will explore how women and men in mining communities negotiate livelihood struggles, analysing social and economic ties that transcend the border. Analysing perspectives on mining, displacement and migration in relation to transboundary resource governance, policy documents will be reviewed and interviews conducted with national and district government authorities, companies and civil society organizations.This study will generate original data and contribute new insights to engage conceptual and policy debates as well as associated methodological and ethical debates in borderlands research. The analysis aims to inform researchers in geography, development studies, African studies and the growing field of borderlands research, as well as policymakers. In 2011, the African Union signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the African Borderlands Research Network, based at the University of Edinburgh, highlighting the need for research to support policymaking that enhances livelihoods in border regions. This project is especially timely in light of a global environmental treaty signed by more than 120 countries recently, including Zimbabwe and Mozambique, requiring governments to take new steps to manage artisanal gold mining. Government officials have expressed the need for research to inform National Action Plans for implementing the treaty in the 2015-2020 period.The project's regional workshops will co-produce knowledge while building local capacity of artisanal mining associations, government agencies, civil society and universities in Zimbabwe, Mozambique and the UK. Theoretical, ethical and methodological insights will be disseminated through books, articles, briefs, lectures and courses, to inform crosscutting debates at the intersection of borderlands research and extractive sector research. Building on past experiences working with United Nations agencies, this project will be transformative in cultivating new skills to lead North-South-South collaborative research that informs policymakers at regional, national and global levels.