Public conference as part of the search for a professor in Human Geography

Summary: Human development fundamentally depends on natural resources. But how do earthly materials turn into resources of value for the development of human societies? Our research focuses on resource-making dynamics, specifically on the socio-material processes through which subterranean materials become resources. We start by introducing how the notion of territory helps grasp some of these dynamics, querying the way earthly materials are defined, appropriated and governed, in ways that are contested across different places and scales. We move on to presenting our planned research aspirations, on the politics of extractive labour, and on the geological disposal of nuclear waste. Our projects contribute to theoretical and societal debates about the role of the subterranean in human development, raising questions about the justice dimension of sustainable transitions across global North and South.