Two Mining Areas: Spaces of Care amid Extraction

Abstract

Malmberget (meaning ore mountain) lies in both northern Sweden and Sábme, the land of the indigenous Sámi. The mountain Erzberg (also meaning ore mountain) in Styria is part of the Austrian Alps. At its foot lies the town Eisenerz (meaning iron ore) which has provided the workforce to mine the ore. Both towns and regions have dedicated their existence to the global supply of iron ore. This paper argues that they require specific practices of care for those who lose their homes, have to adapt to the progress of extraction or stay within shrinking towns. As heroic male-centered accounts of extractive areas already exist in large numbers, I focus on following small-scale spatial practices of care and their precarities amid extraction. These insights into the complexity of simultaneous regional extraction and care contribute to current feminist-materialist discussions and thinking on architectures in areas of complex environmental change.