The Other, Unexplored and Insidious Aspect of the ‘Oil Curse’ in Sub-Saharan Africa: A View from Doba in Chad

Abstract

Whilst oil ranks among the most powerful resources for transforming economies and driving industrial, infrastructural and human development, its extraction via the Chad–Cameroon pipeline has led to unusual negative outcomes. In Doba, observation, life narratives, interviews and documentary research reveal the roots and tragic effects of the oil curse in sub-Saharan Africa. The article adopts an exploratory approach to examine the foundations of this dire situation, going beyond the usual observations. Drawing on Harold Garfinkel’s ethnomethodology, it identifies four key areas: the nature of the curses prevalent in Black Africa; their specific manifestations in Doba, Chad; the evolution of practices that have enabled their neutralisation; and an empirical approach aimed at normalising the management of oil revenues. The analysis shows that the curse is a social construct rooted in specific configurations of actors.