Dr. Ana Clara Alves (Freiburg): Promises of development and the afterlives of predatory extractivism: A visual history of the mining industry in Minas Gerais, Brazil

Wir laden Sie herzlich zu unserer nächsten Kolloquiumsveranstaltung mit Dr. Ana Clara Alves, am 22. Januar 2026 ein. Dr. Alves wird einen Vortrag zu Promises of development and the afterlives of predatory extractivism: A visual history of the mining industry in Minas Gerais, Brazil halten. Für mehr Informationen zu den Inhalten des Vortrages siehe das Abstract unten.

Die Veranstaltung findet von 18:15–19:45 Uhr in Raum 4429 (KG IV) statt. 

Alle Interessierten sind herzlich willkommen!

Promises of development and the afterlives of predatory extractivism: A visual history of the mining industry in Minas Gerais, Brazil

On January 25, 2019, the Brazilian mining company Vale experienced the rupture of a tailings dam in the region of Córrego do Feijão, in the city of Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil. This tragedy resulted in 272 deaths and released twelve million cubic meters of mining waste, which spread across the region. Images and videos of the disaster were widely broadcast around the world and on social media, and the circulation of these images were heavily responsible for a transnational movement of social and ecological justice that endures to this day. Seventy years earlier, when Vale S. A. was establishing itself in Minas Gerais, the large-scale mining infrastructures carried a very different meaning. At that time, the mining industry was the evidence of Brazil’s “belated” development, and the images of extractivism facilities worked as symbols of hope for a modern, industrialized, and wealthier country. This work presents a counter-visual narrative to the topic of extractivism in the Brumadinho region, examining how the mining industry once embodied a national dream of development while simultaneously reinforcing colonial transnational relations and predatory extractivism toward the people and environment. Lastly, the social and ecological negligence of mining extractivism in Minas Gerais calls for an exercise of epistemic disobedience, rearranging our gaze regarding what development should look like and how we can think and visualize decolonial approaches to extractivism practices in Latin America.