Minerals Online Roundtable I: ‘Extraction, Infrastructures, and Networks’

Online: October 17, 2024

The first roundtable in our online series for 2024/25 invites a critical examination of the intersecting themes of extraction, infrastructure, and networks in literature across various genres and periods. We aim 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 seeks 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 aim 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.

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)

Minerals Online Roundtable I - Extraction, Infrastructures, and Networks

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Minerals Online Roundtable I - Extraction, Infrastructures, and Networks

UCD Humanities Institute