New Histories of Mining and More-Than-Mineral Extraction

Session Submission Type: Alternative Session

Abstract

Previous environmental histories of mining largely focus on the Mountain West. These studies of gold camps or uranium mines have helped uncover material aspects of U.S. territorial imperialism, global industrialization, environmental regulations, labor and health, and more. This session aims to broaden material, temporal, and spatial understanding of mineral extraction by encompassing a range of subterranean resources in a range of locations.
Lighting talks will present varied social and ecological dimensions of mining that allow for analyzing contemporary mineral resource speculation and envisioning anti-extractive futures: LaBrecque sees salt extraction as a nexus of human and animal histories, arguing inland salt resources were significant in settler colonial industrialization, multilateral dispossession, and Indigenous persistence. Svenson explores the classification of dimension stone, going to the outcrops and laboratories where the U.S. Geological Survey and National Bureau of Standards transformed stone from a local geological resource to a standardized industrial product. Elsass examines the extraction of sand and gravel for concrete construction, highlighting humble pits that yielded materials for everyday urban life. Bykova studies the liminal spaces of Svalbard coal mines as geopolitical environments of the Cold War, now relevant in the context of Arctic extraction and climate change. Quinn follows occupational health in silica extraction for computers, finding a labor history of environmental justice that addresses capitalist continuities into the “post-industrial” digital age. Doucette recounts how the unsafe underground environment of the Magma Mine in Superior, Arizona, prompted unionization.
Collectively, these studies demonstrate the dynamic persistence of deep mineral dependencies throughout human communities while also recognizing the divergent social possibilities that inhere within mineral use. By offering multiple meanings of mining, the talks will create a collaborative environment for ensuing extended discussion with the audience that will invite new synergies and new participants within a redefined environmental history subfield on mineral extraction.

Sub Unit

• ASEH Annual Conference

Participants

• Annabel G LaBrecque, University of California, Berkeley

• Alicia Svenson, Northeastern University

• Kirke D.A. Elsass, Montana State University

• Alina Bykova, Stanford University

• Adam Quinn, University of Oregon

• Hailey Doucette, University of Kansas

Moderators

• Kent "Kip" Curtis, Ohio State University/Microfarm Project

• George Vrtis, Carleton College