Mining Capitalism: The Relationship between Corporations and Their Critics

Stuart Kirsch

Published by University of California Press 2014

Mining Capitalism

The Relationship between Corporations and Their Critics

Stuart Kirsch

https://doi.org/10.1525/9780520957596

Overview
Contents

About this book

Corporations are among the most powerful institutions of our time, but they are also responsible for a wide range of harmful social and environmental impacts. Consequently, political movements and nongovernmental organizations increasingly contest the risks that corporations pose to people and nature. Mining Capitalism examines the strategies through which corporations manage their relationships with these critics and adversaries. By focusing on the conflict over the Ok Tedi copper and gold mine in Papua New Guinea, Stuart Kirsch tells the story of a slow-moving environmental disaster and the international network of indigenous peoples, advocacy groups, and lawyers that sought to protect local rivers and rain forests. Along the way, he analyzes how corporations promote their interests by manipulating science and invoking the discourses of sustainability and social responsibility. Based on two decades of anthropological research, this book is comparative in scope, showing readers how similar dynamics operate in other industries around the world.

Author / Editor information

Kirsch Stuart :

Stuart Kirsch is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Reverse Anthropology: Indigenous Analysis of Social and Environmental Relations in New Guinea (2006).

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Illustrations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Chapter 1. Colliding Ecologies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	15
Chapter 2. The Politics of Space Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	53
Chapter 3. Down by Law Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	84
Chapter 4. Corporate Science Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	127
Chapter 5. Industry Strikes Back Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	159
Chapter 6. New Politics of Time Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	188
Conclusion Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	224
Epilogue Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
Appendix. Timeline of the Ok Tedi Mine and Related Events Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	239
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	245
References Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	289