Cleveland closely details and analyzes the recruitment, movement, work experiences, and repatriation of generations of diamond miners (with their families) employed by the Angolan corporate giant Diamang from its founding in 1917 to its closure after the military coup that ended colonial rule in Angola in 1974/5. His subtitle, “Corporate Paternalism and African Professionalism,” conveys his core arguments about the incremental changes in the relations between workers and the company.
A key point regarding the methodology is that Cleveland actually managed to conduct his intended research design. Diamang’s uncataloged archive was stored in a Universidade de Coimbra shed overseen by the Anthropology Department’s Museum. Material in Luanda’s national archive was cataloged, but notoriously difficult to access. Even more difficult was conducting archival research and extensive oral interviews in and around Diamang’s former headquarters in the conflict-plagued region of Lunda Norte, Angola. Cleveland collected fresh archival material and interviewed scores of...