This workshop invites researchers focusing on the ethnographic study of sand resources, its extraction and wider political economy, predominantly in the Global South. We encourage workshop participants to ground their research in fieldwork, local economies, polity and environment. The intended outcome of the workshop is a special issue on the political economy of sand mining. To this end, the workshop will be a focused two-day event, 9-10 June 2022.
- Interested researchers are requested to send a 300-word abstract outlining the main argument, approach and conclusion of the paper by 15 March 2022 to saumya.pandey@ugent.be. Accepted researchers will be informed before 1 April. We will accept 10-12 submissions.
- All participants should submit a full draft paper of 6000-7000 words by 1 June. These drafts will be distributed beforehand to the workshop participants.
- The workshop will tentatively be held in person with the possibility of hybrid participation, in keeping with rising cases of Coronavirus. Participants’ transport and stay in Ghent, as well as lunches, will be fully paid for by the workshop organisers.
Workshop organisers: The workshop is organized by doctoral researcher Saumya Pandey and Prof. Dr. Bert Suykens, at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, Norway and Ghent University, Belgium. They are both working on a Norwegian Research Council project on the political economy of sand mining in India, Nepal and Bangladesh. They are also involved in a project on sand economies in Morocco and Tanzania. Bert Suykens is PI of both projects.
Funding acknowledgement: Theworkshop has been made possible with the generous support of the Global Minds Fund of Ghent University and the Chr. Michelsen Institute.
More info: For more information, please contact the workshop organisers: saumya.pandey@ugent.be and/or bert.suykens@ugent.be.