Interrogating ‘Sustainable Mining’: Labour, Social Reproduction and Intergenerational Justice in Extraction-affected Communities

Mining affects communities and contributes to socio-ecological harms despite the proliferation of industry-led sustainability initiatives. These issues demand ongoing scrutiny given the intensification of ‘critical’ extractivism and its intersection with climate-change mitigation, action, and in/justice. The proposed project aims to interrogate the notion of sustainable mining as a source of ‘green’ jobs, community wellbeing, and climate action by considering how it manifests in the two mining-affected communities: Sudbury, Canada and Antonio Pereira, Brazil. We want to investigate this claim in relation to three domains of socio-ecological sustainability: 1) the relationship between environmental safety and the working conditions in mining, 2) articulation of mining with social and community reproduction (as expressed though care provision and small-scale agriculture/community gardening projects), and 3) the question of responsibility to future generations (i.e. intergenerational justice). Our project’s intersectional and multi-dimensional analysis will provide an important contribution to research that critically evaluates mining’s developmental and climate action promise for geopolitically distinct communities. It will also forge closer links between research programs and collaboration of scholars at Carleton University (Canada) and Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP), thus benefitting our respective institutions’ internationalization efforts, and enriching graduate education, research and training opportunities in both countries.

Faculty Supervisor:

Ania Zbyszewska

Student:

Partner:

Federal University of Ouro Preto

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Sustainability & the Environment; Mining; Education

University:

Carleton University

Program: