Minerals is a four-year research project (2022-26) designed to provide a new ecocritical and imperial literary history of the nineteenth century that rethinks the impact of extractive mineral industries on the developing Anglophone literary cultures of the British settler colonies of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa from the first major discovery of copper in Australia (1842) to the formation of the South African Union (1910). The project is funded by the Irish Research Council Starting Laureate (Grant agreement IRCLA/2022/3326).

Connected through copper, captivated by diamonds, and both enriched and troubled by gold, the British Empire was materially and culturally transformed by the discoveries and developments of the extractive mineral industries in its southern settler colonies in the nineteenth century.

Studying the literary cultures of the extractive industries of copper, gold, and diamonds as they developed across colonial Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa, Minerals provides a new literary corpus of the southern settler colonies that expands and complicates traditional literary geographies and the categories of literary authorship and readership of the nineteenth century. This project studies the double movement of literary extraction—as signature and force—by reading both the extractive mineral signature within literary texts and investigating how settler colonial literatures exert their own extractive and ecological force.

The project’s research is conducted through four work packages. WP1 is concerned with establishing a research corpus of the literary cultures of the mineral industries, while WP2-4 address the three regimes central to extraction: mineral, labour and infrastructure.

Minerals Project

The Humanities Institute podcast series features over 350 recorded lectures, papers, interviews and presentations from events that have taken place in, or have been supported directly by the UCD Humanities Institute. Since the launch of the series in 2010 there have been over 175,000 downloads of our podcasts and the series continues to attract listeners from around the world.

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This podcast features a talk by Dr Jarrod Hore from University of New South Wales, Sydney.

The event was part of Dr Sarah Comyn's Irish Research Council MINERALS Laureate project and associated seminar series on Methodologies concerning Extractivism. 

Jarrod Hore's talk - "Earth Science from the Geological South" - took place in UCD Humanities Institute on June 19 2024, and was introduced by Dr Sarah Comyn.

Jarrod Hore - Earth Science from the Geological South

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

Minerals Online Roundtable II: ‘Extraction and Racial Capitalism
Nov 21, 3:00 pm–4:30 pm

The second roundtable in our online series for 2024/25 seeks to unravel the complex interplay between resource extraction, labour dynamics, and racial capitalism in both historical and literary contexts.

We aim to gather literary critics and historians researching the intersections of extractivism and race, across different geographical regions and historical periods. Our goal is to foster a discussion that stretches across the global and the local, the past and the present. Central to our dialogue is an exploration of the origins of the ‘global colour line’ in the long histories of resource extraction.

Speakers:

Dr Danielle Kinsey, Associate Professor, Department of History, Carleton University
Dr Rebecca Macklin, Leverhulme Early Career Fellow, School of Literatures, Languages, Music and Visual Cultures, University of Aberdeen
Dr Nick McGee, Assistant Professor, Department of History, Durham University

The workshop was chaired by Dr Ge Tang, who is a Postdoctoral Fellow on Minerals.

Minerals Online Roundtable II: Extraction and Racial Capitalism

Multilingualism in Ireland is a podcast series hosted by Stephen Lucek and Marion Schulte. In episode 4 the hosts talk to Dr Bronagh Catibusic about multilingualism and the University of Sanctuary initiative in Trinity College Dublin. 

Dr Bronagh Catibusic is an Assistant Professor in Applied Linguistics (TESOL) in the Centre for Language and Communication Studies. She holds a B.A. (Hons.) in English Studies, an M.Phil. in Applied Linguistics, and a Ph.D. from Trinity College Dublin. She has previously lectured on the teaching of English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Dublin City University. She has also been involved in research for the Council of Europe, the National College of Ireland, and several NGOs on issues pertaining to language and migration. Her research and publications relate to language acquisition and pedagogy, curriculum and assessment, and plurilingual and intercultural education, with a particular interest in contexts of forced migration. Bronagh has a long record of teaching, research, and engagement with refugee and migrant communities in Ireland. She recently received an Irish Research Council 'New Foundations' award for a research project focusing on technology-enhanced language learning with adult migrants. She is also actively involved in the University of Sanctuary initiative and leads the Trinity English Conversation Classes, a valuable civic engagement project through which Trinity staff and student volunteers provide language and intercultural support for people who are seeking refuge in Ireland. She currently working on research relating to this project and is involved in initiatives, established within Trinity and by the Irish Universities Association, in response to the crisis in Ukraine.

About the hosts

Stephen Lucek is an Assistant Professor in Linguistics in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics. His research focuses on linguistic competencies and resources of language users in Ireland. This extends to multilingualism, register variation, and polydialectalism. In much simpler terms, he is interested in how users access language in all its forms. 

Marion Schulte is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Rostock. Her research focuses on various contexts of language use and language variation –she is especially interested in sociophonetics, multilingualism in postcolonial societies (Ireland and Namibia), as well as short-term and long-term language change.

Multilingualism in Ireland. Ep4: University of Sanctuary with Bronagh Catibusic

Multilingualism in Ireland is a podcast series hosted by Stephen Lucek and Marion Schulte. In episode 3 the hosts talk to Leire Sarto-Zubiaurre who researched the acquisition of Spanish as a foreign Language by Irish learners for her PhD topic.

About the hosts

Stephen Lucek is an Assistant Professor in Linguistics in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics. His research focuses on linguistic competencies and resources of language users in Ireland. This extends to multilingualism, register variation, and polydialectalism. In much simpler terms, he is interested in how users access language in all its forms. 

Marion Schulte is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Rostock. Her research focuses on various contexts of language use and language variation –she is especially interested in sociophonetics, multilingualism in postcolonial societies (Ireland and Namibia), as well as short-term and long-term language change.

Multilingualism in Ireland. Ep3: language acquisition with Leire Sarto-Zubiaurre

Multilingualism in Ireland is a podcast series hosted by Stephen Lucek and Marion Schulte.

Fióna Bolger is a poet, creative writing teacher & workshop facilitator, based in Dublin. Find out more about her work and poetry. https://www.fionabolgerpoetry.com
https://www.ilsschool.org/dubylon.html and https://www.unapologeticmag.net/new-page

Stephen Lucek is an Assistant Professor in Linguistics in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics. His research focuses on linguistic competencies and resources of language users in Ireland. This extends to multilingualism, register variation, and polydialectalism. In much simpler terms, he is interested in how users access language in all its forms. 

Marion Schulte is Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Rostock. Her research focuses on various contexts of language use and language variation –she is especially interested in sociophonetics, multilingualism in postcolonial societies (Ireland and Namibia), as well as short-term and long-term language change.

Multilingualism in Ireland. Ep2: Plurilingualism (with Fiona Bolger, Stephen Lucek & Marion Schulte)

The third roundtable in our online series for 2024/25 seeks to explore the diverse forms of representation that emerge from and engage with extractivist activities and their underpinning ideologies. We invite speakers from various disciplines to consider forms broadly, including but not limited to novels, poetry, travel writing, memoirs, petitions, photographs, and picture postcards.

The aim is to foster a dialogue that transcends conventional definitions of genres and forms, to think about how extractivism can generate unique forms of representation, and how these forms, in turn, critically engage with the practices and ideologies of extractivism. Additionally, we aim to create a space where speakers and attendees can share the obstacles they have encountered when working with forms that pose linguistic, cultural, or methodological challenges, and to discuss how these challenges shape their interpretations and analyses.

Speakers:

Dr Adelene Buckland, Department of English, King’s College London
Dr Julia Ditter, Department of Literature, Art, and Media Studies, University of Konstanz
Associate Professor Nathan K. Hensley, Department of English, Georgetown University
Associate Professor Charlotte Rogers, Environmental Humanities, University of Virginia

The workshop was chaired by Dr Ge Tang, who is a Postdoctoral Fellow on Minerals.


Minerals Online Roundtable III: Extraction and Forms of Representation

Minerals Online Roundtable IV: Extractivism and Material Histories
Online
Apr 28, 9:00 am–10:30 am

The fourth and final roundtable in our online series for 2024/25 seeks to explore extractivism through the lens of material histories, encouraging expansive thinking about material culture associated with extractive practices and ideas.

Participants are invited to consider a wide array of materials, from extractive tools to architectures, from domestic artefacts to artworks created in mining fields, and from environmental remnants to archival records, etc. This roundtable aims to reveal how material culture can illuminate broader issues related to extractivism, including but not limited to race, gender, and environmental impacts, while also enabling the recovery of lost voices and stories.

Speakers:

Dr Madhavi Jha, Assistant Professor, Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani
Dr Oliver Tappe, Substitute Professor, University of Kontstanz
Dr Nicholas Y. H. Wong, Assistant Professor, University of Hong Kong

The workshop was chaired by Dr Ge Tang, who is a Postdoctoral Fellow on Minerals.

Minerals Online Roundtable IV: Extractivism and Material Histories

Luke Casserly is a multidisciplinary performance maker from Longford, Ireland.

His work weaves together ecological research, autobiography, sound art, and site as a way of carving out space for new possibilities to emerge between live performance and physical landscape. His projects have brought audiences through city streets, back gardens, train stations, beaches, and a bog in the Irish Midlands. These have led to the creation of a network of wildflower meadows across Ireland (1000 Miniature Meadows, 2020–23), the planting of 1,000 indigenous trees (Root, 2021), and the development of an organic perfume made using botanicals from the Irish bog (Distillation, 2023). Often using autobiography as a starting point, his work attempts to open new conversations around humanity’s impact on the environment. He is interested in making work with a positive environmental legacy beyond the moment of live encounter with an audience, creating gentle, subversive interventions in response to the climate crisis while avoiding the anxiety, greenwashing, and didacticism that often surrounds the topic in contemporary society.

In 2024, he was appointed as a Biodiversity Artist in Residence at Dublin City Council. For more information go to Luke's website: https://www.lukecasserly.org

In episode 1 of Extracts Luke talks to hosts Sarah Comyn and Megan Kuster about his work.

The music is from the South African performance art ensemble ‘The Brother Moves On’. We gratefully acknowledge the UCD Humanities Institute and UCD’s College of Arts & Humanities Research Strands Seed Funding scheme for funding this project.

Extracts - Episode 1. Luke Casserly

Recordings of academic lectures and papers from workshops, conferences and seminars in the University College Dublin Humanities Institute. The Institute provides a creative architectural and conceptual space for interdisciplinary research in the humanities and allied disciplines.

The podcasts are recorded and managed by Real Smart Media. https://soundcloud.com/real-smart-media