This report is based on field work carried out in the Akyem Abuakwa area of the forest region of Ghana, a section of the country rich in agricultural land, gold, and diamonds. Through the field work which was undertaken and the empirical material generated, the author attempts to chart the processes and patterns of differentiation connected to land and land use in contemporary Ghana.

A 1972 book on the determination of wages amongst miners in South Africa.

El Dorado in West Africa explores the first modern gold rush of Ghana in all its dimensions - land, labor, capital, traditional African mining, technology, transport, management, the clash of cultures, and colonial rule. The rich tapestry of events is textured with unexpected ironies and paradoxes. Professor Dumett tells the story of the expatriate-led gold boom of 1875-1900 against the background of colonial capitalism. Through the use of field interviews, he also brings to light the expansion of a parallel "African gold-mining frontier, " which outpaced the expatriate mining sector.

In a critique of Max Weber's influential ideas about the Mediterranean region in late antiquity, Jairus Banaji shows that the fourth to seventh centuries were in fact a period of major social and economic change, bound up with an expanding circulation of gold.