The Extracted Stone

Enter the agency of stone in Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi’s documentary photographic series Zimbabwe Diamond Mining (2012) and Angola Granite Mining (2011); Emmanuel Dongala’s novel Photo de groupe au bord du fleuve (The Stone Breakers) (2010); Fiston Mwanza Mujila’s novel Tram 83 (2014); Sammy Baloji’s photo montage series Mémoire (2006); Idrissou Mora-Kpai’s documentary film Arlit: Deuxième Paris (Arlit: The Second Paris) (2005); and Samson Kambalu’s art film Two Mushroom Clouds (2011). Geology in these works is seen not only as that which predicates extractive economies and racialized bodies but also as subterranean knowledge. Stone, like other nonhuman elements, according to Yoruba African cosmology, radiates a life force or wave particle that interacts with other forces. The immense power rocks hold – power enough to rule, to sicken, to orchestrate coups, political assassinations, and genocides, or (when collectively cared for) to sustain life – is as ritualistic as it is mineral, chemical, or nuclear. There is no distinguishing where stone ends and the human begins. The photographic, cinematic, and literary works in this chapter reference African geologic truths in their portrayals of resistance to conditions created by extractive economies.