The Kumtor Gold Mine in Kyrgyzstan.
© Janarbek Joldoshbaev (RFE/RL)
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The Kumtor Gold Mine in Kyrgyzstan.
© Janarbek Joldoshbaev (RFE/RL)
Past events
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In underground mining, hopes and fears are intricately bound together – in this regard, little has changed from ancient to modern times. What treasures our planet offers, what their extraction means for the environment and, particularly, who the people are that live in the mines‘ surroundings, will be the focus of a guided tour with Beril Ocaklı, a researcher at Humboldt University’s Integrative Research Institute on Transformations of Human-Environment Systems (IRI THESys). Beril Ocaklı is a critical social scientist, institutional economist and also holds a PhD in geography. She has worked and done research on mining conflicts in Central Asia for more than ten years, and is a founding member of the interdisciplinary “Mining Group”. “Mining is often perceived as dirty”, Beril Ocaklı says, “but the subject also offers many personal stories that are directly linked to broader trends in our societies.” She will talk about these stories during her guided tour through the exhibition “After Nature”.

Beril Ocaklı is an international cooperation professional turned academic. After facilitating different transdisciplinary projects in Eurasia, she returned to academia for critically questioning discourses and practices of economic development, political institutions and resource extraction. The institutional economist and geographer researches different extractive infrastructures. Most recently, based at the interdisciplinary institute of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (IRI THESys), she finalised her doctoral research on Kyrgyzstan’s gold rush and resistance.

Beril Ocaklı
© Alexander Rentsch

The tandem guided tour is led by two parties. An educator and an expert or expert team guide you through selected exhibition areas. The invited experts determine the subject matter and bring their own varied professional and personal backgrounds into the conversation. They may be a midwife, artist, small-scale entrepreneur, biologist, historian, archaeologist, psychologist, fire fighter or conservator. People who work as volunteers or who have provided curatorial support in the exhibition will also be invited. This makes every tandem guided tour individual and unique.

Organizational notes

  • Meeting point & time

    The meeting point for guided tours and the location for workshops can be found on your booking confirmation. In order for the tour to begin punctually, please arrive 15 minutes before the programme is due to start. We ask that you allow for this additional quarter hour when planning your visit.

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