Allison Furniss

Postdoctoral Fellow

• Ph.D. in social and cultural Anthropology (University of Cape Town)

Allison Furniss holds a PhD in social and cultural Anthropology from the University of Cape Town and was a 2020 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation scholar. With a regional focus on Central Africa, Allison’s research has explored women who work along the supply chain of Tantalum (coltan), Tungsten and Tin, what are collectively known as ‘digital minerals’ because of their centrality in the manufacturing of electronics, and which are classified as critical minerals in Canada. This has included research with women who work in mining, trade and transport of minerals from Rwanda and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo to Tanzania. Allison has published articles in the Journal of Peasant Studies, The Extractive Industries and Society and Anthropology Southern Africa. Her expertise is in gender, natural resource governance, global supply chains, extractivism, green energy transitions and the politics of labour. Allison is joining the Department of Sociology and Anthropology with a SSHRC-funded postdoctoral fellowship and will be working under the supervision of Dr. Blair Rutherford. During this postdoctoral fellowship, Allison will be conducting ethnographic research in Ivory Coast with women who work in critical mineral extraction and broader supply chain roles. Allison’s work examines the intersection of gender, labour and global modes of production.