Jessica Pískatá is a cultural anthropologist and visiting assistant professor in environmental studies and anthropology at Oberlin College. Join us for her talk, titled “Killing Mountains: Geological Violence and the Poetics of Liveliness in Mongolia.”

In the eastern steppe and Gobi desert regions of Mongolia, long-standing relations between human communities and local “worshipped mountains” are being disrupted by a nearly two-decade-long mineral extraction boom. At the center of this disruption is the question of what this talk calls the “liveliness” of these and other geological forms: how it is determined, who or what determines it and the transformative poetic genres and practices that are employed in its emergence.

First Fridays in Anthropology are inviting, accessible introductions to anthropological research, with a focus on the significance of Anthropology for the public. Invite your colleagues, friends and family — these talks are meant to be accessible to a broad audience.