Paper short abstract:

This paper researches the experience of self, place, and belonging for Groningers in the context of their recent experiences with mining-induced earthquakes, exploring the relationship between identities and natural disasters, and trauma as a rupture of social structure in the wake of these events.

Paper long abstract:

This paper researches the experience of self, place, and belonging for people from Groningen, the Netherlands, with a focus on rural-urban and center-periphery antagonisms, in the context of their recent experiences with mining-induced earthquakes. It explores the relationship between the construction and experience of identities and natural disasters, and trauma as a rupture of social structure in the wake of these events.

The research is located in the province of Groningen, a peripheral place in relation to the rest of the country. In this province there is only one major city surrounded by rural towns and agricultural land. The people who live here, Groningers, distance themselves proudly from the more urban west, and the administrative and cultural center of the nation-state. The province is located above one of the biggest natural gas deposits in the world. Rapid extraction of large amounts of natural gas has induced earthquakes in the province.

Drawing on two years of ethnographic fieldwork the paper addresses how, and to what extent, the earthquakes have become part of Groninger identities in daily life. It describes the sense of loss of security regarding environment, natural resources, technologies, and government that some Groningers experience. This analysis emphasizes indigenous understandings of the earthquakes and ways of dealing with them. The paper outlines a culture-specific symptomology, and unveils Groninger attitudes toward class, region, and nation. Finally, the paper probes the potential contribution of anthropology to research on traumas caused by natural disasters, and to research on trauma as a social/cultural phenomenon.