Short Abstract:

This workshop invites discussions on conflicting views on un/ or re/commoning in mining contexts with a special emphasis on (former) socialist countries where commoning was used as a language of official discourse.

Long Abstract:

Re/commoning, environmental justice and socionatural democracy have recently entered discourses around extractivism, especially in mining contexts. Questions on the distribution of benefits and burdens, blame for unwanted outcomes, and socionatural democracy have evolved as crucial registers that can be activated, played upon or rejected to get recognition for dispossession, pollution and marginalisation, or in arguing in favour of resource inde-pendence and workplaces. Often contradicting claims made by various actors on resources, commons, and knowledge inventories speak to the cragged grounds on which un/ or re/commoning practices may build locally. This is especially true for (former) socialist coun-tries where extraction took place using a language of commoning for the benefit of all, workers’ ethos and national sacrifice. Extraction went along with material and immaterial benefits (e.g. infrastructure, vacation facilities, subsidies) for workers and communities while considerable leniency was shown towards appropriation of putative common goods. When states pulled out, unclaimed infrastructures remained, along with the waste. These assemblages of techno- and nature-cultures engender questions like: How do conflicting views intervene in official narratives of technocultures and technofixes? When and why do people choose to disregard past experiences of repression, delegitimization or disposses-sion? What frameworks could be used for imagining resource management in ecologically and culturally sustainable ways, especially in contexts where commoning carries memories of socialist public ownership? This workshop invites contributions that reflect on un/ or re/commoning in extractivism in any place, but papers on (formerly) socialist contexts are especially encouraged. Abstracts may be sent in German or English.

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