Mineral Worlds. Comparative Perspectives on the Powers/Properties of Stones (AMPIER)

Our connections to the mineral realm have often been analysed from separate perspectives, whether in anthropology, archaeology, history, art history, geography, geomorphology, or mineralogy. Many lithic industries are organised around the extraction of minerals for industrial use, obscuring the fact that relationships to the earth other than extractivism are possible. Global markets have been built around the collection of minerals for their aesthetic, patrimonial, therapeutic, astrological, or “magical” properties. Other less well-known practices take place in underground spaces, from sacrificial rituals to ascetic practices, including a myriad of “energizing” experiences. Although anthropologists and (pre-)historians have explored the way human groups have recognised properties and attributed powers to minerals since antiquity, we still have only an incomplete perspective on all the possible understandings of this field. Between extraction, energy, and magic, how can we map these different relationships to “earthly” matter? Are there as many mineral worlds as there are practices, rituals, and usages? These are just some of the questions this preliminary project will examine, the goal being to establish a  research programme and test frameworks that are genuinely pluri-disciplinary to explore what is occurring at the crossroads of the mineral, organic, and cultural worlds.

Project managers

Stéphane RENNESSON , CNRS - Laboratoire d'ethnologie et de sociologie comparative (LESC)

Bérénice BELLINA , CNRS - Laboratoire Préhistoire et Technologie (PréTech - UMR7055)  

Internal cluster partners

• Laboratoire d'Ethnologie et de Sociologie Comparative (LESC) - UMR 7186
• Technology and Ethnology of Prehistoric Worlds - UMR TEMPS 8068
• Maison des Sciences de l'Homme Mondes - USR 3225

Associated partners

Centre Asie du Sud-Est (CASE/UMR 8170 - EHESS/CNRS)
http://case.ehess.fr/

Université Thammasat, Thaïlande
https://tu.ac.th/en

Patrimoines locaux, Environnement et Globalisation (PALOC UMR 208 - MNHN)
http://www.paloc.fr/fr

Duration

Keywords

Mondes minéraux, durée, mémoire des milieux, pacte-contrat, intraçables