Dr Adam Bobbette

Lecturer in Political Geology (School of Geographical & Earth Sciences)

Biography

I am a human geographer and political geologist.

I grew up in Canada and have lived in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Australia, and the UK. I studied the history of philosophy and cultural studies at Trent University and McGill, followed by architecture and landscape at the University of Toronto. I undertook my PhD in Geography at Cambridge (2014-2018), followed by post-doctoral work at UNSW, Sydney, in the New Earth Histories research program.

My interests include the history and politics of the geological sciences since the 17th century, philosophies of minerals, planetary theory, and extractivism. I also work on earth knowledges in Southeast Asia and from a global perspective. My region of expertise is Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia.

My current book project Earthworks: Political Geology in the Age of Critical Minerals (Verso) develops a new philosophy of minerals by weaving personal history with the geopolitics of critical mineral extraction and trade.

My first book The Pulse of the Earth: Political Geology in Java (Duke University Press, 2023) explores how modern theories of the earth emerged from the slopes of Indonesian volcanoes. The book shows how the earth sciences originate from a fusion of Western and non-Western cosmology, theology, anthropology, and geology. The book was awarded the 2025 Harry J. Benda Prize by the Association of Asian Studies for outstanding first book.

The Pulse of the Earth is being translated into Indonesian and due to be published in 2025 by Marjin Kiri Press.

With Alison Bashford and Emily Kern, I co-edited New Earth Histories: Geo-Cosmologies and the Making of the Modern World (University of Chicago Press, 2023). With Amy Donovan, I co-edited Political Geology: Active Stratigraphies and the Making of Life (Palgrave, 2019).

I have also written for The London Review of Books, Times Literary Supplement, Cabinet, N+1, and e-flux. My interests are transdisciplinary and I have collaborated with visual artists, film makers, and architects including Alfredo Jaar, Malena Szlam, Tita Salina and Irwan Ahmett.

In 2019, I co-created Kebun Lithos (Lithic Garden), a research platform on the slope of Mount Merapi, an active volcano in central Java.

Research interests

Political geology, environmental humanities, geohumanities

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013

Number of items: 57.

2025

Bobbette, A. (2025) Political geology in the age of critical minerals. In: Jaar, Alfredo, The End of the World. DISTANZ Verlag GmbH: Berlin, pp. 27-128. ISBN 9783954767243

Gooding, P. and Bobbette, A. (2025) Adam Bobbette - The Pulse of the Earth. [Audio]

Bobbette, A. (2025) What is Political Geology? [Website]

Bobbette, A. (2025) Sugar and Sand. [Website]

2024

Bobbette, A. (2024) The political geology of volcanology: starting from Indonesia. Isis, 115(4), pp. 846-853. (doi: 10.1086/733148)

Bobbette, A. , McCahey, D., Perrott, C., Ventura, T. and Zakaria, F. B. (2024) Unstable grounds: volcanology, politics, and knowledge in the twentieth century. Isis, 115(4), pp. 816-819. (doi: 10.1086/733147)

Dehm, J., Last, A. and Bobbette, A. (2024) The Inhuman as Capital. [Website]

Linder, B. and Bobbette, A. (2024) Political Geology in Java: A Conversation with Adam Bobbette. [Audio]

2023

Bobbette, A. (2023) Geopoetics: a new political history. Environmental Humanities, 15(3), pp. 235-250. (doi: 10.1215/22011919-10746112)

Bashford, A., Kern, E. and Bobbette, A. (Eds.) (2023) New Earth Histories: Geo-Cosmologies and the Making of the Modern World. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226828602

Bobbette, A. (2023) Shells and Shell. [Website]

Bobbette, A. (2023) The spiritual geographies of plate tectonics: Javanese Islam, volcanology, and earth’s new history. In: Bashford, Alison, Kern, Emily and Bobbette, Adam (eds.) New Earth Histories: Geo-Cosmologies and the Making of the Modern World. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 9780226828602

Bobbette, A. (2023) The Pulse of the Earth: Political Geology in Java. Duke University Press: Durham, NC. ISBN 9781478020073

Bobbette, A. (2023) Priests in the observatory: rethinking climate science and religion in a warming world. Scottish Geographical Journal, 139(1-2), pp. 99-102. (doi: 10.1080/14702541.2022.2157866)

Bobbette, A. (2023) The future of the disaster: Indonesian volcanoes, political geology, and new planetary alliances. In: Zisson, Ethan, Barry, Lani and Wagstaffe, Matthew (eds.) Perspecta 55: Futures Index. The MIT Press: Cambridge, pp. 75-85. ISBN 9780262545464

Bobbette, A. , Asriningtyas, M. and Yuwono, D. (Eds.) (2023) Berita Gunung Berapi: Politik Kebumian pada Zaman Vulkanik (Planetary Politics in a Volcanic Age). Reading Sideways Press: Yogyakarta.

Bobbette, A. (2023) Proliferating centres. In: Bobbette, Adam, Asriningtyas, Mira and Yuwono, Dito (eds.) Berita Gunung Berapi: Politik Kebumian pada Zaman Vulkanik (Planetary Politics in a Volcanic Age). Reading Sideways Press: Yogyakarta, pp. 43-53.

2022

Bobbette, A. (2022) The sound of magma: geographies of infrasound, vibrating bodies, and representing the Earth. DMJournal–Architecture and Representation, 1,

Bobbette, A. (2022) In Sorowako. London Review of Books, 44(16),

Bobbette, A. (2022) Mining is Magical. [Website]

Bobbette, A. (2022) A Javanese Anthropocene? [Website]

Bobbette, A. (2022) Processions: how the spiritual geographies of Central Java shaped modern volcano science. Indonesia, 113, pp. 49-64.

Bobbette, A. (2022) Re-imagining our ancestors: dispossession, resilience, and volatile nature. In: Yang, Yizhao and Taufen, Anne (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Cities and Landscapes in the Pacific Rim. Routledge. ISBN 9780367471149

Bobbette, A. (2022) The Spirituality of Coal. [Website]

Bobbette, A. (2022) Merapi. In: Lehnerer, A., Seidel, B. and Ursprung, P. (eds.) 17 Volcanoes: Holes in the Future City. Lars Müller Publishers. (Accepted for Publication)

2021

Bobbette, A. (2021) The political geology of two thousand square metres. In: Cincik, Benek and Torres-Campos, Tiago (eds.) Postcards from the Anthropocene: Unsettling the Geopolitics of Representation. DPR: Barcelona, pp. 266-269. ISBN 9788494938870

Bobbette, A. (2021) Political geology. In: Oxford Bibliographies. Oxford University Press. (doi: 10.1093/obo/9780199874002-0222)

Bobbette, A. , Gamble, R., Lee, C.-T. and Wilson, C. (2021) Decolonizing geology: a discussion. GeoHumanities, 7(2), pp. 647-655. (doi: 10.1080/2373566x.2021.1896373)

Szlam, M. and Bobbette, A. (2021) Merapi [Film]. [Audio]

2019

Bobbette, A. (2019) Making a home on a volcano. In: Lenhard, Johannes and Samanani, Farhan (eds.) Home: Ethnographic Encounters. Series: Encounters: experience and anthropological knowledge. Routledge: London, pp. 145-148. ISBN 9781350115941 (doi: 10.4324/9781003085577-10)

Bobbette, A. (2019) Priests on the shore: climate change and the Anglican Church of Melanesia. GeoHumanities, 5(2), pp. 554-569. (doi: 10.1080/2373566x.2019.1644962)

Bobbette, A. (2019) How plants move: Stories of collecting and drawing botanical specimens. Times Literary Supplement, [Book Review]

Bobbette, A. (2019) Forecasting Earth futures. [Website]

Bobbette, A. (2019) Joseph Banks' Florilegium: botanical treasures from Cook's first voyage. Times Literary Supplement, 6048, p. 26. [Book Review]

2018

Bobbette, A. and Donovan, A. (Eds.) (2018) Political Geology: Active Stratigraphies and the Making of Life. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham. ISBN 9783319981888

Bobbette, A. (2018) Cosmological reason on a volcano. In: Bobbette, A. and Donovan, A. (eds.) Political Geology. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 169-199. ISBN 9783319981888 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-98189-5_6)

Bobbette, A. and Donovan, A. (2018) Encountering the Earth: political geological futures? In: Bobbette, A. and Donovan, A. (eds.) Political Geology. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 347-371. ISBN 9783319981888 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-98189-5_12)

Bobbette, A. and Donovan, A. (2018) Political geology: an introduction. In: Bobette, Adam and Donovan, Amy (eds.) Political Geology: Active Stratigraphies and the Making of Life. Palgrave Macmillan: Cham, pp. 1-34. ISBN 9783319981888 (doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-98189-5_1)

Bobbette, A. (2018) Too abundant grass: A place of geopolitics and pleasure. Times Literary Supplement, [Book Review]

Bobbette, A. (2018) Fire in Jakarta: City politics and the rise of conservative Islam. n+1, 31, pp. 22-33.

Bobbette, A. (2018) The Masters. In: Ludic Garden, exhibition catalogue. Mehraneh Atashi: Amsterdam, pp. 57-65. ISBN 9789082922400

Bobbette, A. (2018) Singing disappearance: Javanese songbird competitions and the ventriloquizing of extinction. Cabinet, 66,

2017

Bobbette, A. (2017) A temperate empire. Times Literary Supplement, [Book Review]

Bobbette, A. (2017) Fuck your Culture: Nudes in four landscapes. In: WdeW Review: Arts, Culture, and Journalism in Revolt, vol.1 (2013-2016). Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art: Rotterdam, pp. 334-341. ISBN 9789491435478

Bobbette, A. (2017) Getting to know a few hundred degrees: Or, volcano aesthetics. In: WdeW Review: Arts, Culture, and Journalism in Revolt, vol.1 (2013-2016). Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art: Rotterdam, pp. 329-334. ISBN 9789491435478

Bobbette, A. (2017) Granite and sandstone. In: WdeW Review: Arts, Culture, and Journalism in Revolt, vol.1 (2013-2016). Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art: Rotterdam, pp. 325-329. ISBN 9789491435478

Bobbette, A. (2017) The inbetweeners. In: WdeW Review: Arts, Culture, and Journalism in Revolt, vol.1 (2013-2016). Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art: Rotterdam, pp. 347-350. ISBN 9789491435478

Bobbette, A. (2017) Ten entrances to an event. In: WdeW Review: Arts, Culture, and Journalism in Revolt, vol.1 (2013-2016). Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art: Rotterdam, pp. 184-189. ISBN 9789491435478

Bobbette, A. (2017) We all live in the wrong place: Thinking beyond resilience in volatile environments. In: Hutton, Jane (ed.) Material Culture Assembling and Disassembling Landscapes. Series: Landscript, 5. Jovis: Berlin, pp. 223-236. ISBN 9783868592146

Bobbette, A. (2017) Where does the water touch the bank? In: WdeW Review: Arts, Culture, and Journalism in Revolt, vol.1 (2013-2016). Witte de With Centre for Contemporary Art: Rotterdam, pp. 341-347. ISBN 9789491435478

2016

Bobbette, A. (2016) The aeronauticists. Forty-Five, 2, 170.

Bobbette, A. (2016) Contortions of the unconsolidated: Hong Kong, landslides and the production of urban grounds. City: Analysis of Urban Trends, Culture, Theory, Policy, Action, 20(4), pp. 523-538. (doi: 10.1080/13604813.2016.1192417)

2015

Bobbette, A. and Denizen, S. (Eds.) (2015) Weather: Special Issue of Scapegoat: Architecture, Landscape, Political Economy. CreateSpace. ISBN 9781514372593

2014

Bobbette, A. (2014) On unconsolidated grounds. In: Mapping Asia. Asia Art Archive: Hong Kong, pp. 162-185. ISBN 9789881342706

2013

Bobbette, A. (2013) A forensics of the future: fire insurance underwriting, contingency, and early 20th century materials. Journal of Architectural Education, 67(2), pp. 285-287. (doi: 10.1080/10464883.2013.817177)

Bobbette, A. , Miller, M. and Turpin, E. (Eds.) (2013) Jakarta: Architecture and Adaptation/ Jakarta: Arsitektur + Adaptasi. Universitas Indonesia Press: Depok. ISBN 9789794565261

Bobbette, A. (2013) Episodes from a history of scalelessness: William Jerome Harrison and geological photography. In: Turpin, Etienne (ed.) Architecture in the Anthropocene: Encounters Among Design, Deep Time, Science and Philosophy. Open Humanities Press: London. ISBN 9781607853107 (doi: 10.3998/ohp.12527215.0001.001)

This list was generated on Wed Apr 30 04:53:08 2025 BST.