Toxic coloniality and the legacies of resource extraction in Africa

This review essay examines the colonial roots of toxicity caused by resource
extraction across Africa, thereby foregrounding the persistent necropolitics of
oil spills and mining waste dumps. Zooming in on examples of mining and oil
drilling localities, with a particular focus on Johannesburg, the Central African
Copperbelt and the Niger Delta, it sheds light on what coloniality entails. This
article traces the long-term temporalities of extraction, capitalism and waste
to show the toxic aftermaths of colonial mines and oil wells. In doing so, the
article probes the possibilities and impossibilities for decolonial forms of
environment making. By bringing global environmental humanities literature
on resource extraction into conversation with the specific histories of African
localities, the nature of the planetary regime of extraction and its toxic effects
are highlighted. More closely studying these histories of coloniality and toxicity
is crucial in responding to the climate crisis.