Research Interests

• Ethnographies of the economy and of social inequality
• Ethics in the extractive industries and role of the public
• (Post-)mining governance in Burkina Faso, Guinea, Ghana and Germany
• Spatiality and temporality of societal conflicts in social-ecological transformations
  
• Narratives of sustainability transformation (e.g., Circular Economy and Just Transition)
• Extractivism as the material basis for decarbonization efforts
  

Professional Career

Current Projects

Climate Collaboratorium: Climate adaptation and water security (DFG-funded, since 01/2025)

GeRohTrans: Societal Engagement in Raw Materials Research: Transdisciplinary Cooperation and Global Responsibility (BMBF-funded, since 01/2024)

K3I-Cycling: AI-based Optimization of the Recirculation of Plastic Packaging, Subproject AP 3.6 (BMBF-funded, since 11/2022)

Sustainability Narratives Research Group of the Environmental Politics Department (since 05/2022)

Completed Projects

GoldSust:  Interdisciplinary Fellow Group on Sustainability in West Africa’s Gold Mining Sector (IFG 11, MIASA Senior Fellowship)

PostMIN: Negotiating Mine Closure in West Africa (MIASA Junior Tandem Fellowship)

SP 3 recomine alliance: Analysis of decision-making structures/conflicts and development of a toolbox for transdisciplinary cooperation

Junior Research Group GORmin: Governance Options for acceptable primary and secondary Scarce-Resource mining in Germany

Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) 1199: Processes of Spatialization under the Global Condition

Publications

Benedix, C.; Bleicher, A.; Schöne, L. S.; Ayeh, D. (2025). Twinning green and digital futures in waste management, Environmental Science & Policy, 168, 104042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2025.104042

Ayeh, D.; Zongo, T. (2024). What Does Mine Closure Mean? Some Insights from West Africa, Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa – Blog, published online 18 July 2024.

Bleicher, A.; Ayeh, D. (2024): Die Rohstoffstrategie der Bundesregierung, Politikum 10 (1), pp. 22–31. DOI: 10.46499/2339.2957

Ayeh, D. (2023). Struggles over Resource Decentralisation: Legislative Reform, Corporate Resistance and Canadian Aid Partnerships in Burkina Faso, International Development Policy 15. https://doi.org/10.4000/poldev.5230

Rutjes, H., Ayeh, D., Graf, D., Meißner, S., Pacher, A. (eds.) (2023): Methodenbaukasten für die transdisziplinäre Rohstoffforschung, published online 21 June.

Ayeh, D., Bleicher, A. (2023). Rohstoffe im 21. Jahrhundert, in: Sonnberger, M., Bleicher, A., Groß, M. (eds) Handbuch Umweltsoziologie. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37222-4_52-1

Ayeh, D., Zongo, T., & Sow, J. (2022). L'extraction minière dans un contexte d'(in)sécurité en Afrique de l'Ouest — boom ou bust?, Mande Studies 24, 73-95. https://doi.org/10.2979/mnd.2022.a908470

Ayeh, D. (2022). Le droit minier face à l’éthique de l’or: Contestations autour d’une concession minière au Burkina Faso, Revue internationale des études du développement 249, 35-62. https://doi.org/10.4000/ried.770

Ayeh, D. (2022). What Local Gold Extraction Tells Us about a Globalized Mining Economy, TRAFO – Blog for Transregional Research, published online 07 April 2022. 

Ayeh, D. (2021). Spaces of Responsibility: Negotiating Industrial Gold Mining in Burkina Faso, Berlin: DE GRUYTER OLDENBOURG (Dialectics of the Global 10). ISBN: 9783110689969

Ayeh, D., Bleicher A. (2021): One concept fits it all? On the relationship between geoethics and responsible mining, The Extractive Industries and Society 8 (3), 100934. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2021.100934

Ayeh, D. (2020): What’s “local” labor in Burkina Faso’s mining sector?, Africa is a Country, published online 25 June.

Ayeh D. (2019): Rezension zu: Mbembe, Achille: Critique of Black Reason. Durham 2017, Connections. A Journal for Historians and Area Specialists, published online 21 September. ISBN: 978-0-8223-6343-9

Ayeh D. (2018): Yaramoko, Mining Conflicts in Burkina Faso, published online 15 November.

Werthmann, K.; Ayeh, D. (2017): Processes of Enclaving under the Global Condition: The Case of Burkina Faso, Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag GmbH (Working paper series of the SFB 1199 Universität Leipzig, 4).

Kieck. B.; Ayeh, D., Beitzer, P., Gerdes, N. Günther, P., Wiemers, B. (2016): Inclusion Grows. Developing a manual on disability mainstreaming for the German Development Cooperation - Case Study Namibia, Berlin: Albrecht Daniel Thaer-Institut für Agrar- und Gartenbauwissenschaften. https://doi.org/10.18452/3211

Ayeh, D., Plastrotmann C., and Ziesemer S. (2016): Verantwortung ohne Grenzen? Deutsche Entwicklungszusammenarbeit im Kontext von Flucht und Vertreibung, Berlin: Seminar für Ländliche Entwicklung (SLE Briefing Paper 09). ISSN: 2197-8042

Ayeh, D., Rahn, K., Wendebourg, L., Bing, N, Kausch, S. (2015): Auf postkolonialen Spuren in Leipzig. Ein Stadtplan, Leipzig: Engagierte Wissenschaft e.V.