Nuclear (Geo)Political Ecologies: A Hybrid Geography of Chinese Investment in Namibia’s Uranium Sector

ORCID iD

0000-0001-8748-5634

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Namibia’s Husab uranium mine is the Chinese government’s largest investment in Africa to date. This article develops a theoretical framework of hybridity to analyse the (geo)political and ecological implications of China’s rising global influence in uranium mining. Drawing on multiple-methods fieldwork, the article explains how Husab has resuscitated Namibia’s uranium industry and facilitated the political goals of both Chinese and Namibian leaders. Husab’s materialisation of “South–South solidarity,” however, also appears to be deepening the marginalisation of minority communities near uranium mines. Far from paradoxical, this uneven distribution of benefits and costs is as intertwined with nuclear geopolitics as it is with the materiality of uranium mining.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1177/186810261704600303

APA Citation

DeBoom, M.J. (2017). Nuclear (Geo) Political Ecologies: A Hybrid Geography of Chinese Investment in Namibia's Uranium Sector. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 46(3), 53-83.

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© 2020 by SAGE Publications Ltd, or GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies, unless otherwise noted. Manuscript content on this site is licensed under Creative Commons Licenses

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