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Paper short abstract:

This paper is about how diverse practices of speculation – or not – play out in the context of natural resource extraction in the case of lithium mining in Bolivia and beyond. What can ethnography this case say about lithium’s significance as a “critical” raw material for the energy transition?

Paper long abstract:

This paper is about how diverse practices of speculation – or not – play out in the context of natural resource extraction, particularly in the case of lithium mining in Bolivia and beyond. Extractive industries have been described as fundamentally speculative endeavors, in particular as they have come to rely heavily on the logic of financial markets. However, here I deal with practices that have received somewhat less attention, namely those of scientists and engineers who work hard to get the minerals out of the ground. These people would hardly describe their own doing as speculation, for their projects and plans are founded on the apparently solid grounds of information – or knowledge. Yet in this case, the object they have sought to extract has remained elusive, existing only in the future tense. For long, lithium has been known by many in Bolivia to be imminent, and accordingly the politics surrounding its presence have played out in its absence. In this paper I unpack one apparently solid plan to realize lithium’s potential, which was thwarted by such speculative politics. What, I wonder, can an ethnographic approach in this case say about the context in which lithium gains its global significance as a so-called critical raw material for the energy transition? I understand ethnography in particular to include my own practice as a scientist, speculative and otherwise. How does my own trajectory with lithium shape the mineral’s significance as it becomes part of the story?