BOOM2DUST

Researching how three prosperous mines in Southern Africa went from collecting ore to collecting dust
3 CITIES IN Southern africa

About the project

There are three industrial mining centres in southern Africa that once stood at the forefront of imperial expansion; Kimberley (South Africa), Kabwe (Zambia), and Tsumeb (Namibia). Once they promised modernity, progress and economic development, but now they are bedevilled by the toxic legacy of economic collapse, societal upheaval and environmental ruin. “Boom to Dust” will research and write the post-humanist multi-species environmental histories of these three industrial mining centres between 1870 and 2020.
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Latest Project Updates

View the latest updates, blogs, publications, news and events

Latest blog posts

Jan-Bart Gewald
Diamonds To Dust
The Statue of Cecil John Rhodes on Du Toitspan Road, Kimberley
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June 2, 2025
Walker Swindell
Lead, Flies and Cattle
Observations concerning the multispecies history of Kabwe (Broken Hill), Zambia
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May 13, 2025
Maaike Rozema
Ruptures and Riches
Reflections on a Multidisciplinary Workshop on African Mineral Resource Extraction
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May 1, 2025

Latest publications

Gewald, J.B.
Gabrielle Hecht, Residual Governance: How South Africa Foretells Planetary Futures
December 4, 2024

Latest news

McGregor Museum, Kimberley, South Africa
Mining Lives and Relations
Boom2Dust is organising a conference on Multi-species Histories of Mineral Extraction in Southern Africa
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June 23, 2025

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