Commodity Frontiers aims to provide robust and freely accessible content on the past, present, and future of commodity frontiers, from diverse perspectives and positionalities. We strive for “real-time” reports and reflections on contemporary issues and events, as well as contributions that link the past and present of capitalism and the countryside, providing longer historical viewpoints on problems that are often assumed to be modern.
Contributions in this issue take up the commodity frontier lens in various ways. They deal with a range of minerals and frontiers: gold, copper, coal, lithium, “green energy”, and seabed and ocean floor mining. More than this, the articles highlight various approaches to the study of, and engagement with, capitalism’s mineral frontiers.
Table of Contents
Editorial IntroductionMindi Schneider, p. i
Feature ArticleGold is not for Eating: Conflicts Related to Gold Mining in Burkina Faso Bettina Engels, p. 1
Studying Commodity FrontiersMaking Sense of Global Gold Mining Boris Verbrugge and Maria Eugenia Robles Mengoa, p. 7
Teaching Commodity FrontiersTeaching Extraction and its Discontents: A Conversation with Anna Zalik Gayatri Menon, p. 12
Historians take on the PresentCopper, Llamas and a Virus: A Tale of Historically Entangled Frontiers Hanne Cottyn, p. 16
Commodity Frontier Political EcologyFrontiers of the Green Energy Transition: An Interview about Lithium Mining in South America Maria Cariola, p. 22
Conflicts, Frictions, and CounternarrativesAnti-Mining Conflicts and Degrowth Julien-François Gerber, p. 28
Creative FrontiersOn-Trade-Off: Countering Extractivism by Transnational Artist’s Collaborations Lotte Arndt and Oulimata Gueye in close exchange with the members of _On-Trade-Off, p. 32
From the Field“COVID-19 has Crippled Our Struggle”: An Interview with Pinky Langa Sithandiwe Yeni, p. 43
PublicationsMining and Historical Capitalism: Book Reviews Leonardo Marques, p. 48
*Op-Eds WWF’s “Living Planet Report 2020” and the Long History of Capitalism Ulbe Bosma, p. 53
The End of Naïve Europe, The Rise of Green Imperialism Alberto Vázquez Ruiz, p. 56
Events and AnnouncementsClaudia Bernardi, 60