Tailings and the Onset of a Chilean Anthropocene
On a journey through Chile, Sebastián Ureta gives a thick description of Anthropocene landscapes in which the never-ending pursuit of mineral value extraction leads to environmental devastation and long-term damage of health and well-being. In his multi-part presentation, tailings enact a “geological now” in mining regions, an anthropogenic stratigraphy based not on the remains of large cities or infrastructures, but on vast, stratified dumps of chemical residues that largely outlive their creators.
Sebastián Ureta holds a PhD in Media and Communications from the London School of Economics. In 2022, the University of California Press will publish his new book Worlds of Gray and Green: Mineral Extraction as Ecological Practice.
Please cite as: Ureta, S (2022) Tailings and the Onset of a Chilean Anthropocene. In: Rosol C and Rispoli G (eds) Anthropogenic Markers: Stratigraphy and Context, Anthropocene Curriculum. Berlin: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. DOI: 10.58049/HM7A-DM06