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Coordinated and published by The Grassroots Institute, the Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources (GJNR) is an international journal dedicated to the latest advancements in natural resources throughout the world. The goal of this journal is to provide a platform for scientists, social scientists, policy analysts, managers and practitioners (on all academic and professional levels) all over the world to promote, discuss and share various new issues and developments in different arenas of natural resources.
Oumar Sangaré1, Abdoulaye Sawadogo*2, Alexis Kabore3
1Department of Sociology, Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, Burkina Faso.
Email: sangaromar@yahoo.fr | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2795-512X
2Department of Sociology, Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, Burkina Faso.
Email: abdoulaye.sawadogo@ujkz.bf | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-5169-7334
3Department of Sociology, Joseph Ki-Zerbo University, Burkina Faso.
Email: alexiskaboresocio@gmail.com | ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7616-6942
*Corresponding author
Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 8(2): 59-89. Doi: https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080204
Received: 14 May 2025
Reviewed: 19 June 2025
Provisionally Accepted: 27 June 2025
Revised: 30 June 2025
Finally Accepted: 12 July 2025
Published: 22 August 2025
Beyond its contrasting representations, gold panning became a major rural activity in many African countries. In Burkina Faso, it gathers thousands of people from different backgrounds, along with related activities. This gold panning-led migration towards the sites has a transformative effect on the rural environment through the new forms of relationships it creates between local indigenous community members and migrants. This observation and listening to the daily life of gold-panning sites suggest that Gaoua municipality, South-West Burkina Faso, is considered to be the country's leading gold-mining region. Through a qualitative study based on documentary research, semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and direct observations, this article analyzes the issues at stake in the cohabitation between these two social categories of people. Drawing on the sociology of migration and social change, the research findings highlight the role of collaborative migration as both a strategy for migrant integration and as a means for indigenous communities to acquire new knowledge in artisanal mining, thereby enhancing their ability to manage local mineral resources.
Gold panning; Migration; Social change; Collaboration; Gaoua; Burkina Faso
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Sangaré, O., Sawadogo, A., & Kabore, A. (2025). Migration and Gold Panning: Collaboration between Indigenous and Non-indigenous People in Artisanal Mining in Gaoua, Burkina Faso. Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 8(2), 59-89. https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080204
Sangaré O., Sawadogo A., Kabore, A. Migration and Gold Panning: Collaboration between Indigenous and Non-indigenous People in Artisanal Mining in Gaoua, Burkina Faso. Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 2025, 8 (2), 59-89. https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080204
Sangaré, Oumar, Sawadogo, Abdoulaye, Kabore, Alexis. 2025. “Migration and Gold Panning: Collaboration between Indigenous and Non-indigenous People in Artisanal Mining in Gaoua, Burkina Faso”. Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 8 no. 2: 59-89. https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080204
Sangaré, Oumar, Abdoulaye Sawadogo and Alexis Kabore. 2025. “Migration and Gold Panning: Collaboration between Indigenous and Non-indigenous People in Artisanal Mining in Gaoua, Burkina Faso”. Grassroots Journal of Natural Resources, 8 (2): 59-89. https://doi.org/10.33002/nr2581.6853.080204
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