The anatomy of a gold-rush: Politics, uncertainty and the organisation of artisanal mine work and labour in Zimbabwe

• In the study, artisanal mining gold rushes are taken as socio-political spaces. Instead of domination and subordination actors in a rush engage constant negotiations contestations that fashion new political subjects at workplace. Work labour seen creative but undefinable unpredictable processes practices create social value. Numerous studies concur small-scale (ASM) has had significant impact on Africa's livelihoods, environment, urbanisation, agriculture, other aspects life. Rarely acknowledged is its effect politics work labour, well actions behaviours general. Zimbabwe, ASM perhaps more connected with reshaped broader societal processes, human actions, greater economy than southern African nations. This paper offers dissection gold-mining rush, common occurrence workplace order to comprehend how various sites perceive “work” concomitantly “labour” contexts where structures strictures production control informal, flexible, contingent, situational, indeterminate, frequently evasive state institutional confines. How then fashioned under such conditions? The study based five months ethnographic field research conducted gold-rich Kwekwe District Zimbabwe's Midlands province between 2021 early 2022.