{"id":3002,"date":"2025-03-28T21:16:26","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T21:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=3002"},"modified":"2025-03-28T21:16:33","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T21:16:33","slug":"robyn-d%e2%80%b2avignon-a-ritual-geology","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast\/robyn-d%e2%80%b2avignon-a-ritual-geology\/","title":{"rendered":"Robyn d\u2032Avignon &#8211; A Ritual Geology"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Robyn d\u2019Avignon, Assistant Professor of History at New York University (USA), presented her book\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dukeupress.edu\/a-ritual-geology\">A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa<\/a><\/em>\u00a0(Duke University Press, 2022) in the Greenhouse environmental humanities book talk series on Monday, 6 November 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Set against the ongoing corporate enclosure of West Africa\u2019s goldfields,&nbsp;<em>A Ritual Geology<\/em>&nbsp;tells the untold history of one of the world\u2019s oldest indigenous gold mining industries: Francophone West Africa\u2019s&nbsp;<em>orpaillage<\/em>. Establishing African miners as producers of subterranean knowledge, Robyn d\u2019Avignon uncovers a dynamic \u201critual geology\u201d of techniques and cosmological engagements with the earth developed by agrarian residents of gold-bearing rocks in savanna West Africa. Colonial and corporate exploration geology in the region was built upon the ritual knowledge, gold discoveries, and skilled labor of African miners even as states racialized African mining as archaic, criminal, and pagan. Spanning the medieval and imperial past to the postcolonial present, d\u2019Avignon weaves together long-term ethnographic and oral historical work in southeastern Senegal with archival and archeological evidence from Burkina Faso, C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Guinea, and Mali.&nbsp;<em>A Ritual Geology<\/em>&nbsp;introduces transnational geological formations as a new regional framework for African studies, environmental history, and anthropology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robyn d\u2019Avignon, Assistant Professor of History at New York University (USA), presented her book\u00a0A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa\u00a0(Duke University [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2023-11-06-dAvignon.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2023-11-06-dAvignon_pod.jpeg","cover_image_id":"3004","duration":"58:41","filesize":"41.71M","filesize_raw":"43731797","date_recorded":"2023-11-06","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":""},"tags":[17,18],"series":[16],"class_list":["post-3002","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","hentry","tag-books","tag-environment","series-greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks"],"episode_featured_image":false,"episode_player_image":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/2023-11-06-dAvignon_pod.jpeg","download_link":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-download\/3002\/robyn-d%e2%80%b2avignon-a-ritual-geology","player_link":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-player\/3002\/robyn-d%e2%80%b2avignon-a-ritual-geology","audio_player":"<a class=\"wp-embedded-audio\" href=\"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-player\/3002\/robyn-d%e2%80%b2avignon-a-ritual-geology\">https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast-player\/3002\/robyn-d%e2%80%b2avignon-a-ritual-geology<\/a>","episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks\/id1664960759","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"rss":{"key":"rss","url":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/feed\/podcast\/greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks\/","label":"RSS","class":"rss","icon":"rss.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0TNTSCl3zRBues4Eqjkwwm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/feed\/podcast\/greenhouse-environmental-humanities-book-talks","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"WJaPkYvPyn\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast\/robyn-d%e2%80%b2avignon-a-ritual-geology\/\">Robyn d\u2032Avignon &#8211; A Ritual Geology<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/newnatures.org\/greenhouse\/podcast\/robyn-d%e2%80%b2avignon-a-ritual-geology\/embed\/#?secret=WJaPkYvPyn\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Robyn d\u2032Avignon &#8211; A Ritual Geology&#8221; &#8212; The Greenhouse Book Talks\" data-secret=\"WJaPkYvPyn\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! 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