This talk explores the material, environmental, social, economic, political, meteorological, and cultural politics of sand. Sand provides a tangible framework to help contextualise the enormity of the complex and intertwined social and environmental justice issues that our world is facing. Sand is inextricable from human development, civilization, and technological progress — understanding our relationships with sand can help develop pathways to a more just and sustainable future.

Resources:

Books/Literary Texts/Articles

• Torres, A., Liu, J. Brandt, J. & K. Lear (7 Sept. 2017) The world is facing a global sand crisis. The Conversation US.

• Vince Beiser’s book, The World in a Grain: The story of sand and how it transformed civilization. (2019, Riverhead Books) as well as his investigative reporting on sand.

• Michael Helland’s book Sand: The Neverending Story (2009, University of California Press)

• Orrin H.Pilkey and J. Andrew G. Cooper’s The Last Beach (2014, Duke University Press).

• James Wilt’s article on the land defenders and Manitoba’s sand fracking mine

• Missing Migrants Project: Migration Within Africa

• United Nations Environment Programme report: Sand and sustainability: Finding new solutions for environmental governance of global sand resources (2019)

• Also, UNEP’s Impacts of Sand and Dust Storms on Oceans: A Scientific Environmental Assessment for Policy Makers (2020)

• Cooney, K. (18 Feb. 2020) “Weaponizing the Desert at the U.S.–Mexico Border”

• Milton, C. (4 Aug. 2010) “The Sand Smugglers” Foreign Policy

• Motlagh, J. (30 Sept. 2019). “The Deadliest Crossing,” Rolling Stone

• NASA, “The Fact and Fiction of Martian Dust Storms”

Videos/Podcasts

• 99% Invisible podcast, Ep. 361: Built on Sand with Vince Beiser

• Ben Mendelsohn’s 2019 documentary on sand dredging in New York, As If Sand Were Stone…

• Kate Dawson’s podcast, Cities of Sand

• BBC News, 14 January 2019: Sahara desert: The most dangerous migrant journey of all?

• Denis Delestrac’s 2013 documentary Sand Wars and his TED talk “Let’s talk about sand.”

• Deutsche Welle’s Disappearing beaches — The trouble with sand

• Ben Kalina’s 2013 documentary Shored Up

Who/What to Follow

• Sand Stories

Miscellaneous

• Sand Grains: The Microscopic Photography of Dr. Gary Greenberg

• Cornell Architecture Art Planning presents Into the Desert: Questions of Coloniality and Toxicity

• Siddharta Menon academic-focused bibliography on critical sand geographies