Family Hardship and Cultural Values: Child Labor in Malian Small-Scale Gold Mining Communities

Abstract

This paper contributes to the debate on child labor in small-scale mining communities, focusing specifically on the situation in sub-Saharan Africa. It argues that the child labor now widespread in many of the region's small-scale mining communities is a product of a combination of cultural issues, household-level poverty, and rural livelihood diversification. Experiences from Komana West, a subsistence gold panning area in Southern Mali, are drawn upon to make this case. The findings suggest that the sector's child labor " problem" is far more nuanced than international organizations and policymakers have diagnosed. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.