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Gilbert, Paul Robert.Pdf A University of Sussex PhD thesis Available online via Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/ This thesis is protected by copyright which belongs to the author. This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Please visit Sussex Research Online for more information and further details 1 MONEY MINES: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF FRONTIERS, CAPITAL AND EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES IN LONDON AND BANGLADESH Paul Robert Gilbert Doctor of Philosophy in Social Anthropology University of Sussex September 2015 2 DECLARATION I HEREBY DECLARE THAT THIS THESIS HAS NOT BEEN AND WILL NOT BE SUBMITTED IN WHOLE OR IN PART TO ANOTHER UNIVERSITY FOR THE AWARD OF ANY OTHER DEGREE. NAME: PAUL ROBERT GILBERT SIGNATURE: ……………………………………… 3 ABSTRACT This thesis draws on over eighteen months of multi-sited fieldwork carried out in London and Dhaka, among geologists, lawyers, fund managers, engineers, and private sector development consultants intent on securing profitable extractive opportunities in new ‘frontier’ markets, and among public intellectuals and politicians in Dhaka who oppose the development of Bangladesh’s energy resources by foreign corporations. The thesis contributes to a recently revitalized anthropological political economy and engages critically with the actor–network theory-inspired ‘social studies of finance’. By tracing ethnographically the production of extractive industry capitalism, I show that capital is not merely free–flowing or reproduced by its own inevitable logic. Rather, the movement and accumulation of capital is facilitated by distinct forms of knowledge production, such as political risk analysis and the emergent field of Corporate Diplomacy, and by historically constituted legal norms, most notably those of investor–state arbitration. Equally, I show that the calculative capacities exercised by financial analysts and fund managers have material consequences far beyond those normally considered by scholars in the social studies of finance, who tend to confine their analyses to the ‘bounded fieldsites’ provided by bank dealing rooms or stock exchange trading floors. Methodologically, this thesis defends the notion that ethnographically tracing the generation of extractive industry capitalism demands a rejection of the recent ‘post–critical’ turn in the ethnography of experts and elite groups. Ultimately, I argue that what allows extractive industry capitalism to be generated is the subordination of the sovereignty of ‘frontier’ states to the sovereignty of transnational extractive corporations. This subordination is supported by the norms of international arbitration, and is the source of the perceived ‘investment climate’ stability that ultimately allows extractive industry capitalists to attract speculative investment for resource exploration in new ‘frontiers’. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My thanks are, obviously, due first and foremost to Suda Perera, without whom I would have neither started nor finished this thesis. Likewise, my parents (Rodney & Vanessa) and sister (Liz) have provided unquantifiable levels of support, both financial and otherwise. Thanks are also due William and Gijs van Boxel, and Sumi Perera for providing moral support throughout. Dinah Rajak and Katy Gardner’s supervision has been unbelievably supportive, and they have both been more generous with their time and energy than I could have expected. I am grateful to Katy for continuing to supervise me after leaving Sussex, and for Dinah’s incredible, painstaking and generous comments on my drafts, and the support she has given me in relation to the numerous ‘distractions’ that I have pursued, from the BOP project onwards. Without Samara Khan, Sayeeda Khan, Jahangir Khan, Qayyum Khan, Mohammed Ashraful Hossain (Ullash), Zahir Ahmed, Ishrat Ferdousi (Chunu), Mushahed Ahmed, Shahab Khan, Mohammed Rahman, Rezwana Farha, Mohammed Mizanur Rahman (Hiron), Sakina Haq, Ahsan Habib, Mohammed Newazul Moula, Omar Farook (Shourav), and Amit Roy, my fieldwork in Bangladesh would have been impossible and, more importantly, far less enjoyable. Without Ullash, I would not be able to read, write or speak Bangla, and am eternally grateful for his patience. In London, I suspect most of the people I spoke to would prefer not to be named, but thanks are definitely owed to several anonymous ‘gatekeepers’ and procurers of documents who were instrumental in enabling my fieldwork. Thanks to Tim Walker for doing his best to make me go outside and have fun occasionally (will try harder), and to the entirety of CCPH who have ensured I was never lonely while writing up. At Sussex thanks to Jenny Diggins, Ole Kaland, Danny Watson, Astrid Jamar, Katie Higgins–Wright and Vessi Ratcheva for making me immediately welcome, and to Sahil Dutta, Sam Knafo and the rest of the Neoliberalism & Agency group for stretching my brain beyond its previous, more comfortable dimensions. Thanks also to the comments, advice and support in the PhD seminars and beyond from Jane Cowan and Raminder Kaur; to Peter Luetchford and James Fairhead for comments on my original research proposal; and to Peter (again) and Grace Carswell for what I learned while teaching on your modules. Also, thanks very much to Brett Scott for introducing me to an exciting and original way of thinking about dark side anthropology and finance hacking, to Jessie Sklair for stimulating conversations on what it means to be an anthropologist among elites, and to Gemma Aellah, Taras Fedirko, and Ben Bowles for superbly helpful comments on my papers at Brunel and the RAI. Much obliged. Thanks also to the publishing opportunities and editorial support provided by Ben, Federica Guglielmo, Cris Shore and Sue Wright, and to the Image of Finance team and Paolo Quattrone for the opportunity to participate in their incredibly challenging but stimulating workshops. It is probably also fair to say I would neither like anthropology as much as I do, nor have developed an interest in extractive industries and critical anthropologies of capitalism without the influence of Ben Campbell, Tom Henfrey, Emma Gilberthorpe, Daniela Peluso, Simon Platten and Roy Ellen. And of course, for putting up with endless email inquiries and being abundantly helpful, thanks to Jayne Paulin and Grace Jones. Thanks also to Terry and Tara at Sociology Lens, and to the OLT collective, especially Dan, for the knowledge of the City and the confidence I have gained from doing the tours with you. If I have forgotten anyone, I do apologise. Finally, thanks to the ESRC/Sussex DTC for the +3 Studentship that made all of this possible. 5 CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES 6 PART I: INTRODUCTION & METHODOLOGY 8 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION: FRONTIERS, CAPITAL & EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES IN 9 LONDON & BANGLADESH 1.1: BANGLADESH: SURPRISE, PARADOX OR FRONTIER? 15 1.2: FRONTIERS 23 1.3: CAPITAL 28 1.4: EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES 36 CHAPTER TWO: METHOD & METHODOLOGY: ELITES, EXPERTS & ETHNOGRAPHY 42 2.1: DEFERENT ETHNOGRAPHY AMONG ELITES & EXPERTS 43 2.2: CARVING OUT A FIELDSITE BETWEEN LONDON & DHAKA 50 2.3: IMPURITY, DANGER & CRITIQUE 63 2.4: A NOTE ON RESEARCH ETHICS & ANONYMITY 65 PART II: FROM SPECULATION TO ACCUMULATION 70 CHAPTER THREE: INSIDE THE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY BAZAAR 71 3.1: THE TIME OF FINANCE 74 3.2: WORLD’S FAIR, TRADE FAIR, EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY BAZAAR 82 3.3: QUASI–OBJECTS & RESOURCE MATERIALITIES 94 CHAPTER FOUR: MONEY MINING! OPENING THE BLACK BOXES OF EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY CAPITALISM 100 4.1: ACCOUNTING FOR CAPITAL IN SSF 101 4.2: THE RITUAL OF CAPITALIZATION 107 4.3: TRACING POWER IN EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRY CAPITALISM 116 PART III: CORPORATE DIPLOMACY & CORPORATE FOREIGN POLICY 123 CHAPTER FIVE: THE RISE OF THE CORPORATE DIPLOMAT 124 5.1: DISCOVERING CSR IN ANTHROPOLOGY & THE EXTRACTIVE INDUSTRIES 127 5.2: GENTLEMANLY MINING CAPITALISM 134 5.3: CONVERTS & ROGUES: TRANSPARENCY OFF THE RECORD 138 5.4: THE AGE OF CONVERSATION & THE AGE OF INFLUENCE 143 CHAPTER SIX: RESOURCE NATIONALISM & RESOURCE SOVEREIGNTY IN LONDON & DHAKA 151 6.1: SUPERCYCLES & RESOURCE NATIONALISM IN LONDON 153 6.2: ENGINEERING DISSENT 159 6.3: MINERALS & MARTYRDOM 168 CHAPTER SEVEN: STATE OF EXTRACTION: POLITICAL RISK, SOVEREIGNTY & ARBITRATION IN 181 GLOBAL MINING CAPITALISM 7.1: NEW WORLD DISORDERS: THE RISE & RISE OF ‘POLITICAL RISK’ 183 7.2: PRESSING PAUSE ON PERMANENT SOVEREIGNTY 191 7.3: NIKO V. BANGLADESH 196 7.4: ARBITRATION & THE STATE OF EXTRACTION 201 PART IV: GLOBALIZING AMBITION & NEW FRONTIERS 211 CHAPTER EIGHT: RE–BRANDING BANGLADESH: CLASS & GLOBALIZING AMBITION IN DHAKA’S 212 ELITE ENCLAVES 8.1: TRANSNATIONAL CAPITALIST LIFE PROJECTS 214 8.2: RE–BRANDING BANGLADESH: THE OTHER ASIAN TIGER 219 8.3: A CHANCE TO THRIVE: GRAPPLING WITH FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT 229 8.4: WHY WOULDN’T I? 242 CHAPTER NINE: CONCLUSION: MONEY MINES – OR, HOW TO CAPITALIZE ON CORPORATE SOVEREIGNTY 242 BIBLIOGRAPHY 251 6 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1: STRUCTURE OF THE THESIS: TRACING THE MONEY MINING PROCESS 7 FIGURE 2: MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL COMMITTEE'S CONSTITUENT GROUPS REMOVE THEIR 171 SHOES AND WAIT IN LINE TO LAY WREATHS AT THE SHOHID MINAR IN SHAHBAG FIGURE 3: WREATHS OFFERED WITH 'REVERENCE' OR 'DEVOTION' TO MUJIB ON JOTIYA 172 SHOK DIBOSH, 2013 FIGURE 4: WREATH LAID AT PHULBARI DAY, 2013.
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