As the key component in aluminum production, bauxite became one of the most important minerals of the last one hundred years. But its effects on people and economies varied broadly – for some it meant jobs, progress, or a political advantage over rival nations but for many others, it meant exploitation, pollution, or the destruction of a way of life. Aluminum Ore explores the often overlooked history of bauxite in the twentieth century, and in doing so examines the forces that shaped the time, from the mineral’s strategic development in the First World War and throughout the Cold War, to its role in the globalization of markets, as companies from the northern hemisphere vied for the resources of the south.
In this wide-ranging collection, scholars from around the world consider multiple international perspectives on this history – from Guinea to Nazi Germany to Jamaica – all while examining the central place of one commodity in a time of change.As the key component in aluminum production, bauxite became one of the most important minerals of the last one hundred years. But its effects on people and economies varied broadly – for some it meant jobs, progress, or a political advantage over rival nations but for many others, it meant exploitation, pollution, or the destruction of a way of life. Aluminum Ore explores the often overlooked history of bauxite in the twentieth century, and in doing so examines the forces that shaped the time, from the mineral’s strategic development in the First World War and throughout the Cold War, to its role in the globalization of markets, as companies from the northern hemisphere vied for the resources of the south.
In this wide-ranging collection, scholars from around the world consider multiple international perspectives on this history – from Guinea to Nazi Germany to Jamaica – all while examining the central place of one commodity in a time of change.Introduction: Opening Pandora’s Bauxite: A Raw Materials Perspective on Globalization Processes in the Twentieth Century / Mats Ingulstad, Espen Storli, and Robin S. Gendron
1 The Global Race for Bauxite, 1900-40 / Espen Storli
2 “Of the Highest Imperial Importance”: British Strategic Priorities and the Politics of Colonial Bauxite, ca. 1916–ca. 1958 / Andrew Perchard
3 Nazi Germany’s Pursuit of Bauxite and Alumina / Hans Otto Frøland
4 National Security Business? The United States and the Creation of the Jamaican Bauxite Industry / Mats Ingulstad
5 The Soviet Union’s “Bauxite Problem” / Stephen Fortescue
6 “Greece Has Been Endowed by Nature with This Precious Material”: The Economic History of Bauxite in the European Periphery, 1920s-70s / Leda Papastefanaki
7 The Volta River Project and Decolonization, 1945-57: The Rise and Fall of an Integrated Aluminum Project / Jon Olav Hove8 Canada and the Nationalization of Alcan’s Bauxite Operations in Guinea and Guyana / Robin S. Gendron
9 Transnational Restructuring and the Jamaican Bauxite Industry: The Swinging Pendulum of Bargaining Power / Lou Anne Barclay and Norman Girvan
10 Issues of Governance, Liberalization, Policy Space, and the Challenges of Development: Reflections from the Guinean Bauxite-Aluminum Sector / Bonnie Campbell
11 White Metal: Bauxite, Labour, and the Land under Alcan in Twentieth-Century Guyana, Jamaica, and Australia / Bradley Cross
12 Battles over Bauxite in East India: The Khondalite Mountains of Khondistan / Samarendra Das and Felix Padel
13 Success without Bauxite: Norsk Hydro’s Long Wait to Achieve Backward Integration / Pål Thonstad Sandvik
Index
The history of a critical mineral at the centre of a century of change.
Robin S. Gendron is an associate professor in the Department of History at Nipissing University. Mats Ingulstad is a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of History and Classical Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Espen Storli is an associate professor in the Department of History and Classical Studies at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
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