Abstract
Based on anthropological fieldwork in Greenland, I explore how rubies as a natural resource create and organise
forms of temporality in order for the stones to appear as a valuable good. I suggest that a circular argument is at
play with regard to the Greenlandic rubies, namely that time creates valuable rubies and rubies create time. I
further argue that this interdependence is an important self-fulfilling driver in creating a viable mining industry
for gemstones in Greenland. A focus on temporality enables me to engage in this circularity and thereby explore
one component in the work of making valuable rubies. Rubies, then, come to work for me as a lens through
which to think about ways of creating and organizing time and vice versa. The underlying premise for this
contribution is that time is thus not a universal measure that externally orders events, but rather a fieldwork
feature deeply embedded in and generated through social practices. Accordingly, time in relation to mining does
not so much present a philosophical challenge, but is rather just a “thing” that happens to be good to think a
Greenlandic resource landscape through – as are rubies.
forms of temporality in order for the stones to appear as a valuable good. I suggest that a circular argument is at
play with regard to the Greenlandic rubies, namely that time creates valuable rubies and rubies create time. I
further argue that this interdependence is an important self-fulfilling driver in creating a viable mining industry
for gemstones in Greenland. A focus on temporality enables me to engage in this circularity and thereby explore
one component in the work of making valuable rubies. Rubies, then, come to work for me as a lens through
which to think about ways of creating and organizing time and vice versa. The underlying premise for this
contribution is that time is thus not a universal measure that externally orders events, but rather a fieldwork
feature deeply embedded in and generated through social practices. Accordingly, time in relation to mining does
not so much present a philosophical challenge, but is rather just a “thing” that happens to be good to think a
Greenlandic resource landscape through – as are rubies.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | The Extractive Industries and Society |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Pages (from-to) | 267-273 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| ISSN | 2214-790X |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Apr 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |