Subterranean Political Geology

The subterranean is of crucial significance for current and future societies at the surface. Earthquakes, rockslides or aquifers have for long shaped human settlements, provoking management and government intervention as human attempts to cope and adapt. In parallel, the subterranean has continued to evolve as an object of capitalist or modernist projects, particularly as a site for the extraction of resources and the burial of waste. In recent years, the social significance of subterranean spaces has further intensified in political struggles about groundwater use, geothermal energy generation, carbon capture and storage or nuclear waste disposal. In all these domains, science, imaginaries, technologies and capital have been instrumental for the social, economic and political appropriation of the subterranean, transforming the relationship of societies to the earth.

Geology matters! A political geology of the subterranean suggests a two-fold research focus: It scrutinizes the way the geological evolves as an object of politics; and, it examines how the geological itself affects political dynamics at the surface. The working group Subterranean Political Geology brings the subterranean into the spotlight in order to advance our understanding of the profound reworking of human-subterranean relations ongoing at present and the political dynamics it involves. It sheds light on the political interplay between materiality, spatiality and temporality in the ongoing transformation of geosocial relations and the manifold uncertainties this involves. Moving beyond a narrow analysis of politics at the surface, it aims to advance a “geological turn” in geography and the social sciences more broadly by connecting empirical and theoretical research on the theme.

The group was founded in spring 2023 with the intention to establish a dialogue between researchers sharing an interest in the subterranean and the way it matters at the surface. It invites to exchange researchers in political geography, political anthropology, political ecology, environmental humanities, environmental history, science and technology studies and related fields. To foster their engagement particularly within Switzerland, the group establishes platforms for regular exchange in disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary manners.