ABSTRACT
Ubeshi 1 is a local term that has been adopted from the Kisukuma word for a hawk (mbeshi), which stealthily dives down and scoops up its prey. Analogously, local people in the communities around the Williamson Diamond Mine of Mwadui stealthily swoop in and steal diamond-bearing material from within the mine ‘when the owners are not looking’, as described by local informants. Although today the practice of ubeshi is less common than before, it remains an activity that has defined the rules regarding mineral rights and power relations in diamond production and exchange in the Mwadui area of Maganzo.
