The impact of mining-induced displacement and resettlement on the dynamics of belonging among displaced people in Katanga (DR Congo)

 When transnational mining corporations start up a large-scale mining project, they often decide to dispossess, relocate and resettle (some of) the people living in their mining concession, so that they can move ahead with their mining operations in an undisturbed manner. This research project seeks to examine the impact of this involuntary displacement on people's sense of feeling at home. The project wants to examine which strategies displaced people develop to adapt to their new living and working environments, and to gain acceptance by their host community (i.e. the population of the area to which they have been moved). Research will be carried out in the Congolese Katanga province, where the abundant availability of strategic minerals such as copper, cobalt, tin and zinc has led to the development of a flourishing industrial mining industry, dominated by transnational mining corporations.