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Accepted Paper:
Itinerant knowledges: mining science and extractive colonialism in Peru and Pittsburgh
Rocío Gomez
(Virginia Commonwealth University)
This paper asks how transnational mining helps produce scientific knowledge regarding the environment and raw materials.
Paper long abstract:
Tucked away in the Pasco region of the Andes Mountains, Mina Ragra existed in relative geographic isolation. In a few short years, this mine in Peru grew from a geological expedition to the most valuable vanadium mine in the world. However, its value also stemmed from the numerous contributions it made to the worlds of industrial chemistry and engineering. Vanadium Corporation of America relied on this site for industrial raw materials as well as scientific production, which it isolated in its laboratory in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This paper examines the itinerant knowledges produced by Mina Ragra and how they contributed to transnational corporate colonialism, science, and ideas of the environment. Using scientific treaties, archival documents, and personal correspondence, I argue that extraction at the Mina Ragra site contributed to toxic legacies of not only contamination but also divestment and dispossession of science.