Landscapes of migration

On the plural ecologies of mining settlements in Limburg, Belgium.
by Jacopo Zani

This research project focuses on the mining settlements of the Belgian Limburg, from the perspective of various human and nonhuman migration movements. Specifically, it argues that despite the image of disruption that has consolidated in response to the decline of mining activities, such migration movements have also articulated the mining landscape through innovative ecological relations. Thus, the dissertation traces various migration trajectories, exploring how such ecological relations influence important social, technological and environmental concerns. More specifically, it looks at the interplay of workers’ migration in the shaping of collective cultural patterns, the circulation of industrial ‘waste’ in questions of housing construction, and the life of former industrial forests in relation to the environmental conditions created by various material extractions.

Hover Image: Excavation of the mining ‘slag heap’ of Winterslag in 2005. Image: Berger Wout.

Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Tom Avermaete

Jacopo Zani

Excavation of the mining ‘slag heap’ of Winterslag in 2005. Image: Berger Wout.
Barracks built to house the migrant workers in Zwartberg, 1960 c.a. Image: Johnny Harsch.
A group of Italian migrants participated in the construction of the new catholic mission in the mining town of Waterschei, in 1948. Image: Hemkring Heidebloemke Genk.