Sand as Matter and Method

Abstract From shorelines remade by sea level rise to extractive enterprise, urban construction, and rural terraforming, sand is a preeminent indicator of human-induced global disturbance forming the substrate of Anthropocene lives. Drawing on case studies from Asia and Africa, this special section centers sand in ethnographic inquiry to argue that matters of sandy admixture are ripe for theorization, comparison, and informed engagement of planetary change and provide an impetus for methodological innovation. For geoscientists, sand is distinguished from other rock-based sediments in terms of size. The authors’ approach reaches beyond issues of strict scientific classification to cover sandy matters more broadly, such as sediments born from bodily and consumer waste, construction debris, and industrial tailings. The authors argue that these anthropogenic outputs are increasingly difficult to separate analytically or mechanically from organically or geologically generated substances as human extractive and productive endeavors intensify. Through examinations of Congolese sand divers, Beiruti environmental activists, ghosts of Malaccan development projects, and sewage-clogged waterways of urban Addis Ababa, contributors develop three analytic optics rooted in anthropology’s empiricist legacy to capture sand’s distinctive socialities and materialities. The first, “granular particularism,” offers a framework to trace the heterogeneous materials and scales of intertwined human and geological substances and practices. Second, attention to “sedimentary configuration” provides a means to the play of fixity and flow characterizing sand-based geosocial formations. Finally, the notion of “compositional politics” makes evident the unsettled alliances and inherent inequalities between human and more-than-human actors that derive value from sand’s utility to fostering life and livelihood.