About a Stone: Some Notes on Geologic Conviviality

Can a stone be a critter? Placing multispecies studies in conversation with the geological turn, this article examines the place of a particular sacrifice stone in the ambit of a coastal mining development in northern Norway. The argument develops a reading of resource capitalism as ontological proj...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental humanities 2016-05, Vol.8 (1), p.95-117
Main Author: Reinert, Hugo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anthropocene
Capitalism
Cultural Studies
Environmental Studies
Exploitation
Mining
Personhood
Science and Technology Studies
Stone
Theory and Philosophy
Vulnerability
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Can a stone be a critter? Placing multispecies studies in conversation with the geological turn, this article examines the place of a particular sacrifice stone in the ambit of a coastal mining development in northern Norway. The argument develops a reading of resource capitalism as ontological project—using the stone as a lens to explore imaginaries of relational personhood, the distribution of harm, and the limits of vulnerability. In closing, the article relates the “life” of the stone to ongoing discussions about the Anthropocene and how to develop novel, more inclusive research imaginaries—specifically, research imaginaries that address (and subvert) a modern “geontology” that renders the inorganic as passive, inert, and freely available for exploitation.
ISSN:2201-1919
2201-1919
DOI:10.1215/22011919-3527740