Mary Van Buren is a professor in the Department of Anthropology and Geography at Colorado State University. Her research focuses on the historical archaeology of the southern Andes.

“Mining does not just disrupt, it destroys. Yet despite this fact we see the miner’s relentless quest for dignity, the refiner’s instinct of workmanship, the resurgent ideal of reciprocity. Miners are not criminals, but at base, mining is an unforgivable, criminal act, a theft, one that we all rely on every day. Or that is one possible takeaway from this important, richly documented, and uniquely structured book.”—Kris Lane, Technology and Culture “In this book, Van Buren uses archaeological and historical research to trace the long history of mining in Bolivia, an industry that for centuries has occupied a critical space in reinforcing colonial practices and structural inequalities in Andean nations. Her approach moves from easy equations of past and present institutions, readings that reinforce a colonizer and colonized dichotomy, or narratives predicated on the erasure of Indigenous practices. Instead, Van Buren tells a complex and intertwined story of mining at different scales, highlighting that the persistence of Indigenous technologies and values can be traced through the materiality of the institutions that sought to eradicate them.”—Carla Hernández Garavito, University of California, Santa Cruz

Mary Van Buren is a professor in the Department of Anthropology and Geography at Colorado State University. Her research focuses on the historical archaeology of the southern Andes.

“Mining does not just disrupt, it destroys. Yet despite this fact we see the miner’s relentless quest for dignity, the refiner’s instinct of workmanship, the resurgent ideal of reciprocity. Miners are not criminals, but at base, mining is an unforgivable, criminal act, a theft, one that we all rely on every day. Or that is one possible takeaway from this important, richly documented, and uniquely structured book.”—Kris Lane, Technology and Culture “In this book, Van Buren uses archaeological and historical research to trace the long history of mining in Bolivia, an industry that for centuries has occupied a critical space in reinforcing colonial practices and structural inequalities in Andean nations. Her approach moves from easy equations of past and present institutions, readings that reinforce a colonizer and colonized dichotomy, or narratives predicated on the erasure of Indigenous practices. Instead, Van Buren tells a complex and intertwined story of mining at different scales, highlighting that the persistence of Indigenous technologies and values can be traced through the materiality of the institutions that sought to eradicate them.”—Carla Hernández Garavito, University of California, Santa Cruz

Mary Van Buren is a professor in the Department of Anthropology and Geography at Colorado State University. Her research focuses on the historical archaeology of the southern Andes.

“Mining does not just disrupt, it destroys. Yet despite this fact we see the miner’s relentless quest for dignity, the refiner’s instinct of workmanship, the resurgent ideal of reciprocity. Miners are not criminals, but at base, mining is an unforgivable, criminal act, a theft, one that we all rely on every day. Or that is one possible takeaway from this important, richly documented, and uniquely structured book.”—Kris Lane, Technology and Culture “In this book, Van Buren uses archaeological and historical research to trace the long history of mining in Bolivia, an industry that for centuries has occupied a critical space in reinforcing colonial practices and structural inequalities in Andean nations. Her approach moves from easy equations of past and present institutions, readings that reinforce a colonizer and colonized dichotomy, or narratives predicated on the erasure of Indigenous practices. Instead, Van Buren tells a complex and intertwined story of mining at different scales, highlighting that the persistence of Indigenous technologies and values can be traced through the materiality of the institutions that sought to eradicate them.”—Carla Hernández Garavito, University of California, Santa Cruz