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  • 1. Veerart, Frank
    et al.
    Åberg, Anna
    Vikström, Hanna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies.
    Creating, capturing, and circulating commodities: the technology and politics of material resource flows, from the 19th century to the present2020In: The Extractive Industries and Society, ISSN 2214-790X, E-ISSN 2214-7918, Vol. 7, no 1, p. 1-7Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Extractive resources are unevenly distributed geographically and our dependence on such resources is growing, which has led to ever increasing flows of resources across the world. This situation has caused concern for numerous actors. However, such worries are not new. Todays' feel of a deeply interconnected, rapidly changing world with global grand challenges has striking resemblances with the nineteenth century mood in the industrializing countries. In this special issue we study the temporal dynamics and multiple geographies of resource flows, and how actors have attempted to shape and control them. In five articles by historians of technology and the environment from Sweden, Russia and the Netherlands, we aim to broaden the view on resource narratives and emphasize their non-static characters by showing developments of resources as they travel through time and space. This introductory article introduces and positions five themes that are addressed in the contributions of special issue. In this special issue scholars discuss (1) the social construction of resources, (2) the importance of resources to nation states, (3) resource flows as transnational practices, (4) technopolitics of resources, and (5) resource flows as global political power hierarches, of resources such as oil, metals, iron ore, uranium and stone.

  • 2.
    Vikström, Hanna
    KTH, Filosofi och teknikhistoria.
    Den Svenska Kromjakten i Turkiet2017Other (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
  • 3.
    Vikström, Hanna
    Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
    Is There a Supply Crisis?: Sweden’s Critical Metals, 1917–20142018In: The Extractive Industries and Society, ISSN 2214-790X, E-ISSN 2214-7918, Vol. 5, no 3, p. 393-403Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    While global metal production has increased almost exponentially over the last hundred years, actors have constantly worried about future scarcities. This article explores why state and business actors within a small country, Sweden, have perceived metals as critical and which strategies they have advanced to cope with potential shortages. It analyzes four reports and/or records of meetings from 1917, 1954, 1980 and 2014, years when the debate about resource scarcity flourished both in Sweden and internationally. The reasons why actors feared the future supply were largely connected to price increases, potential supply disruptions because of war or political instability, and soaring demand for technologies containing metals. Even Sweden, a neutral country, feared shortages because of political instability in foreign countries because of the transnational metal flows. The actors attempted to manage shortages by increased domestic production, technological development, stockpiling, international agreements and recycling. Tracing this issue over time, the article unpacks the importance of and concerns with metal flows in an age of rapid industrial, technological and geopolitical change.

  • 4.
    Vikström, Hanna
    KTH, Filosofi och teknikhistoria.
    Jakten på Krom2017Other (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
  • 5.
    Vikström, Hanna
    Umeå University, Faculty of Arts, Department of historical, philosophical and religious studies.
    Producing Electric Light: How Resource Scarcity Affected Light Bulbs, 1880-19142020In: Technology and culture, ISSN 0040-165X, E-ISSN 1097-3729, Vol. 61, no 3, p. 901-922Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    A light bulb is manufactured from resources found across the world. Knowing what role these resources play in manufacturing processes helps us understand why some technologies were successful and others were not. The glow from light bulbs depends entirely on the metals in the filament. In the late nineteenth century, manufacturers struggled to find a metal that did not melt when emitting a soft, warm glow. Only a few metals had the sought-after properties, and these became valued resources.

    This article explores how the manufacturing of light bulbs affected and was affected by access to metals. Manufacturers competed fiercely to ensure they acquired the resources only found in a few places worldwide in their quest to take over the expanding lighting market. Making light bulbs in an era of protectionism affected extraction sites and politics globally.

  • 6.
    Vikström, Hanna
    Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper.
    Svenskt stål och turkiskt krom: historien om hur Sandviken försökte säkra sin kromförsörjning under mellankrigstiden2018In: Med hammare och fackla / [ed] Gert Magnusson, Halmstad: Sancte Örjens gille , 2018, p. 169-176Chapter in book (Other academic)
  • 7.
    Vikström, Hanna
    Division of History of Science, Technology and Environment, Department of Philosophy and History, School of Architecture and the Built Environment, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.
    The specter of scarcity: experiencing and coping with metal shortages, 1870-20152017Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    In spite of an ever-growing supply of metals, actors have long feared metal shortages. This thesis – departing from an understanding that metals scarcity is not an objective geological fact, but an experience, a fear of a shortage – explores why business and state actors have experienced metals as scarce and how they coped with scarcity from 1870 to 2015.

    The underlying reasons for scarcity experiences originated in high prices, a lack of substitutes, domestic unavailability, limited infrastructure and increased demand. In the view of businesses and the state, a shortage of metals could hinder successful industrialization. Defining metals as scarce was a first step in their attempts to ensure access through exploration, recycling, substitution, and trade agreements.

    This dissertation presents five case studies which provide insights into three selected aspects of metals scarcity that have been overlooked in previous studies. First, while small countries experienced and coped with metals scarcity in a similar way to large nations, they were more vulnerable because of their dependence on transnational flows controlled by larger countries. Yet if they remained neutral in international conflicts, they could enjoy other opportunities to import resources than their larger rivals. Second, industries experienced metals scarcity before World War I; with the onset of the Second Industrial Revolution, at the very latest, new technologies were often dependent on metals which had never before been used commercially – there were not yet any extraction systems in place. However, once these metals began to circulate, state actors became aware of the international traffic and began to classify certain metals as critical. Thirdly, technological change has affected – and been affected by – metals scarcity. If a metal was scarce, manufacturers were likely to embark on a different path to production. Inversely, sometimes new technologies were able to alleviate perceptions of scarcity.

  • 8.
    Vikström, Hanna
    KTH, Filosofi och teknikhistoria.
    The Transnational Light Bulb2016Other (Other (popular science, discussion, etc.))
  • 9.
    Vikström, Hanna
    et al.
    KTH, Historiska studier av teknik, vetenskap och miljö.
    Högselius, Per
    KTH, Historiska studier av teknik, vetenskap och miljö.
    From cryolite to critical metals: the scramble for Greenland's minerals2017In: Heritage and change in the Arctic: reources for the present, past and future / [ed] Robert C. Thompson and Lill Rastad Bjørst, Aalborg: Aalborg Universitetsforlag , 2017, p. 177-211Chapter in book (Refereed)
  • 10.
    Vikström, Hanna
    et al.
    KTH, Historiska studier av teknik, vetenskap och miljö.
    Högselius, Per
    KTH, Historiska studier av teknik, vetenskap och miljö.
    Avango, Dag
    KTH, Historiska studier av teknik, vetenskap och miljö.
    Swedish Steel and Global Resource Colonialism: Sandviken's Quest for Turkish Chromium, 1925-19502017In: Scandinavian Economic History Review, ISSN 0358-5522, E-ISSN 1750-2837, Vol. 65, no 3, p. 307-325Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This article analyses Swedish industry’s attempts to secure strategic raw materials in an era of global resource colonialism. More precisely, it tells the story of how Sandvikens Jernverk – a leading Swedish steel producer – set out to secure its need for chromium ore during the Interwar Era. Up to the late 1920s, Sandviken sourced its chromium from British and French colonies. However, the company feared the British Empire’s growing dominance in the global chromium ore market. In 1928, then, Sandviken joined forces with several other Swedish steel producers, forming a consortium that, with ample help from Swedish foreign policy actors, managed to establish an independent source of chromium ore in Turkey. This project, however, which took the form of an Istanbul-based mining company, made big losses and was abandoned after only a few years. The project failed because of changes in the world chromium market, the global economic crisis, conflicts with the company’s Turkey-based managing director and the Swedish reluctance to scale up mining in such a way that the chromium ore might compete with Rhodesian, New Caledonian and Baluchistani ore.

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