The Politics of Pits and the Materiality of Mine Labor: Making Natural Resources in the American West

Though workers play a crucial role in the process of procuring natural resources, their role in the anthropology of mining and extraction has continually declined over the past two decades. This gap obscures major industry transformations and their implications for theorizing labor and corporate practice. Ethnographic research in active surface coal mines in the American West suggests that relationships between workers and companies are mediated not just through social institutions and corporate policies but also through the material qualities and histories of the resource itself.