MAX-PLANCK-INSTITUT FÜR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE Max Planck Institute for the History of Science

Event

May 21, 2026
Trouble: Kachin Amber, Chinese Palaeontology, and a Global Debate About the Ethics of Scientific Research

In this draft chapter of a book manuscript in progress, I trace how Kachin amber, which I first encountered as a frontier commodity in the China–Myanmar borderlands, became a flashpoint in global debates about ethics in palaeontology. Moving between the Tengchong market and various academic and research institutions, I follow how conflict, private collections, colonial legacies, and uneven access to “data” shape who can speak for the fossil record (and what that record says). Interweaving these encounters with my own reflections on amber as a material, I explore how this sticky fossil resin crystallises broader tensions around extractivism, the entanglement of geos and bios, and what a different kind of geology might demand of us.

  • Alessandro Rippa

    Alessandro Rippa is Associate Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, where he leads the ERC Starting Grant project "Amber Worlds: A Geological Anthropology for the Anthropocene". Alessandro has conducted extensive fieldwork along China's borderlands, and more recently in Italy, and has written on infrastructure development, borders, and human-environment relations, among other topics. He is the author of "Borderland Infrastructures: Trade, Development, and Control in Western China" (Amsterdam University Press, 2020).

Organizer(s)
Location
Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Address
Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany
Room
219/Online
Contact and Registration

We welcome both internal and external guests. For further information about the LMRG Colloquium series, specific sessions, or registration (a limited number of places are available), please contact Dr. Franziska Fröhlich.

About This Series

The LMRG Colloquium is a venue for members and guests of the Lise Meitner Research Group, "China in the Global System of Science," to share their work in progress. It is an opportunity to raise questions, discuss methodological challenges, or get feedback on preliminary conclusions. We aim to create a supportive atmosphere that combines rigorous criticism with genuine curiosity.

Full program of the LMRG Colloquium 2025 & 2026
2026-05-21T14:00:00SAVE IN I-CAL 2026-05-21 14:00:00 2026-05-21 15:30:00 Trouble: Kachin Amber, Chinese Palaeontology, and a Global Debate About the Ethics of Scientific Research In this draft chapter of a book manuscript in progress, I trace how Kachin amber, which I first encountered as a frontier commodity in the China–Myanmar borderlands, became a flashpoint in global debates about ethics in palaeontology. Moving between the Tengchong market and various academic and research institutions, I follow how conflict, private collections, colonial legacies, and uneven access to “data” shape who can speak for the fossil record (and what that record says). Interweaving these encounters with my own reflections on amber as a material, I explore how this sticky fossil resin crystallises broader tensions around extractivism, the entanglement of geos and bios, and what a different kind of geology might demand of us. Alessandro Rippa Alessandro Rippa is Associate Professor at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo, where he leads the ERC Starting Grant project "Amber Worlds: A Geological Anthropology for the Anthropocene". Alessandro has conducted extensive fieldwork along China's borderlands, and more recently in Italy, and has written on infrastructure development, borders, and human-environment relations, among other topics. He is the author of "Borderland Infrastructures: Trade, Development, and Control in Western China" (Amsterdam University Press, 2020). Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany 219/Online Franziska Marliese FröhlichDieu Linh Bui Dao Franziska Marliese FröhlichDieu Linh Bui Dao Europe/Berlin public