Extraction, Infrastructures, Networks
Minerals Online Roundtable I
Online: October 17, 2024
The first roundtable in this online series for 2024/25 invited a critical examination of the intersecting themes of extraction, infrastructure, and networks in literature across various genres and periods. We aimed to explore how different narratives engage with, ignore, or sidestep various infrastructures — such as railways, steamship networks, and telegrams — that facilitate the extraction of natural resources (including land, water, minerals, coal, and oil) and support the movement of labour and goods integral to global extraction.
The discussion sought to uncover how literary cultures or histories both challenge and reinforce the capitalist and imperialist foundations of these global networks that facilitate extraction, often at the expense of local communities and ecosystems. We aimed to deepen our appreciation of the complex ways in which texts engage with extraction and its connections with infrastructures, particularly in the context of contemporary discussions such as decarbonisation, degrowth, and localisation.
The discussion was recorded and you can listen back below.
Speakers:
Dr Dominic Davies, Senior Lecturer in English, Department of Media, Culture, and Creative Industries, City University of London
Dr Nicola Kirkby, City University of London
Associate Professor Aims McGuinness, History Department, Dolores Huerta Research Centre for the Americas, Latin American & Latino Studies, UC Santa Cruz
Dr Sarah Comyn, Project PI
Dr Ge Tang, Postdoctoral Fellow, UCD (Chair)
