Multiple Coal in the Configuration of Connections and Relationships in Modern Kuzbass

Abstract

The article offers analytical optics in which natural resources are considered as «ambiguous» objects that come in many forms depending on the situation, place, actors, and practices. Based on the relational approach, their existence is interpreted within the relations, the diversity of which reveals the multiplicity of semantic and real embodiments of the resource. An analysis of the Kuzbass public discourse has revealed many configurations of forces, conditions, and interactions in which coal is enacted as a substance with a certain meaning, characteristics, and capabilities. The results demonstrate that Kuznetsk coal is discursively and materially transformed in the production process; is involved in market relations as a valuable and useful commodity, providing impressive but unstable incomes; mobilize people and other objects in various spheres of regional life; at the same time is capable of causing damage and inconvenience; leaves «footprints» embodying the material and cultural heritage of the region. The article concludes that attention to the multiple embodiment of an object or substance lets us elucidate the complex, interrelated conditions and consequences of how natural resources exist in public life.