Project Motivation
Ample socio-anthropological studies, as well as political, economic and cultural histories of southern Africa’s industrial mining revolution exist, but until now no environmental histories of this transformation have been written. Given the radical change that occurred, and the fact that mineral extraction, once heralded as the epitome of progress, lies at the root of the Climate Crisis in the Anthropocene, the time has come for a more critical approach to answer the question:
Research Question
What was the environmental impact of the industrial mining revolution that transformed southern Africa? Specifically, what was the impact of industrial mining when viewed from a more than human multi-species perspective? Succinctly, how did industrial mining transform the living space of plants and animals (including humans) in three mining centres?
“Boom to Dust” is inspired by the “more than human” or “animal turn” in environmental history, and will use a multi-species approach that seeks to decentre but not ignore the human in its analysis. Cronon demonstrated that “an environmental history of a single city made little sense if written in isolation from the countryside around it” (1992). Tsing, who “walked the land”, described the end of capitalist progress and concomitant ecological collapse, but significantly drew attention to “third nature”, that which continues to exist despite capitalism (2015). Miller’s Radical Land (2018), Hartigan’s Shaving the Beasts (2020) and Demuth’s Floating Coast (2020) demonstrated that it was possible to write academically sound treatises that accord agency to all forms of life. In relation to Africa it are the animal centred histories of Swart (2010), Gewald (2019) and Glover (2021) that inspire. Hecht’s Residual Governance (2023) strongly aligns with “Boom to Dust” in its theorisation of “the governance of waste and discard, … that is purposefully inefficient, and … treats people and places as waste and wastelands” (p. 6).
Method
The project subjects southern Africa’s history of mining to a new analysis that consciously seeks to reconsider and take into account the role of animals, plants, geology and geography. That is, it actively attempts to decentre the human from history, and concentrateon the hidden and obscured histories of others without whom human history is not possible. At the outset and in its implementation the research draws on different disciplines, with a methodology that consciously seeks to transcend disciplinary boundaries.
“Boom to Dust” is an historical project that draws heavily upon other disciplines, anthropology in particular. Research on each of the three sites will begin with an extensive literature review, including the relevant biological, geological and geographical material. To be followed by field research, and research in public and private archives in Europe and Africa. The PI and two PhDs will each carry out research in their respective sites in stretches of 3, 12 and 1 month. This will allow researchers to work through local archives, interact with informants, and “walk the land”, to gain insight into the multi-species history of the mining sites. Fieldwork will coincide with three workshops to be held in each of the field sites, this will facilitate the exchange of findings and allow the researchers to visit one another’s fieldwork sites.
Cases
Boom to Dust will write three evidence based more-than-human multi-species histories of mining. These histories will allow for a staggered comparison through time across three different environmental zones, three different ecosystems, and three different geological settings and mineralisation. In addition the project will produce a single volume edited synthesizing work, 3 peer-reviewed articles, 5 workshops and 1 conference, dealing with the impact of industrial mining on the living space of plants and animals (including humans). The research will provide historically verifiable information and evidence on the environmental history of mining in these mining centres for both the scientific world and the local societies living in these mining sites.
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The urgency of the project lies in its explicit aim of demonstrating that southern Africa has an inclusive past that is not limited to humans alone. The development of industrial mining initiated a revolution in southern Africa, the effects of which will continue to reverberate far into the future. Industrial mining transformed southern Africa at all levels, from its flora and fauna, through to its water and air. To be sure, the mining revolution brought untold financial wealth to a select few, but at the expense of shattered ecosystems and societies. In the present, in which the Climate Crisis is upon us and many envisage an upsurge in mineral extraction in Africa to facilitate the “Green Revolution” (Africa Confidential), it is important to understand and realise the interconnected nature of the past and its possible messages forall life with whom we share planet Earth.
