Oil is a metonym for terms in books and articles in diverse disciplines in African studies. Some portray oil as a causal agent that thrusts formerly low-income countries into the highly competitive neoliberal global economy. Others present it according to the oil curse/blessing binary. As a curse, petroleum causes dysfunctional and costly behavior. But increased revenues from oil just as certainly result in concrete improvements demonstrating a resource blessing. Heilbrunn uses case materials to explore environmental degradation, oil theft, community-company relations, post-conflict reconstruction, local content in contracts, and corruption. These key concepts form a basis for the keyword/concept essay on oil in Africa.

石油是非洲研究不同学科书籍和文章中术语的转喻。一些人将石油描绘成推动原先低收入国家进入竞争激烈的新自由主义全球经济的原因。其他人根据石油诅咒/祝福二进制来呈现它。作为一种诅咒，石油会导致功能失调且代价高昂的行为。但石油收入的增加肯定会导致具体的改进，这表明资源的福祉。海尔布伦使用案例材料探索环境退化、石油盗窃、社区与公司关系、冲突后重建、合同中的本地内容和腐败。这些关键概念构成了关于非洲石油的关键词/概念文章的基础。