What happens when mining moves from land into the open and deep sea? In other words, what happens when the sea “enters” in the mining industry? Current discourse on deep-sea mining (DSM) largely focuses on the capitalist and political control over oceanic resources. However, there is still a significant gap in understanding the intricate material and discursive dimensions of the ocean itself. Moving beyond the highly polarized debates—either for or against DSM—and the oversimplified narratives that dominate both sides, this project examines the porous assemblage of knowledge and practices that enable the shift of mineral extraction from land to sea.

To do so, the project will engage in conferences, interdisciplinary meetings, and workshops to identify the key actors and expertise shaping this emerging sector. Specifically, it will explore:

• How technological expertise from oil and gas, the maritime sector, and oceanographic research converge and negotiate
• The role—if any—of land-based mining companies in this sea-oriented configuration of actors
• The significance of firsthand experience—having been at sea—in establishing legitimacy  of DSM within the mining industry

Additionally, this research will involve direct participation in floating research laboratories—where scientists, engineers, and sailors work together to collect samples, map and digitalized the seabed, and navigate the challenges of operating at sea. By integrating anthropological methods with new materialist approaches—which emphasize the materiality of the social and natural world in constant flux—alongside insights from Science and Technology Studies (STS), the project aims to build a more comprehensive understanding of DSM. It seeks to uncover the behind-the-scenes processes of knowledge production and provide insights often missing from public discourse.

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Previously, I have focused on mining issues in New Caledonia, specifically examining the Kanak people's involvement in the nickel industry, with an emphasis on life stories, cosmologies, and on the independence movement. Additionally, I have conducted research in Mayotte, exploring environmentalism and local connections to the sea as part of the interdisciplinary project "Future Maore Reefs. 

I am currently affiliated to ASMOG project  and co-founder and co-convenor of Anthropology of the seas network within the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA). 

Monography: 

2022, La montagna e il capitale. Il cammino kanak del nickel, Milano: Prospero Editore 

Peer reviewed articles: 

2024, Gentilucci, M., Exploring Oceanic Dimensions. Rethinking Materiality and Automation in Deep-sea Mining, Public Anthropologists, 6, pp. 292-314

2024, Gentilucci, M., & Stoica, G. ‘Does the Environment Only Exist Here?’ Hyper-Environmentalism and Eco-Infantilisation on Mayotte Island. Ethnos, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2024.2404854

2022, Il futuro che volevano i nostri antenati, tra sentieri già scritti e nuovi immaginari (Nuova Caledonia), LARES, Special issue, LXXXVIII, 2, pp. 217 - 236 

2022, ‘On board’ deep-sea mining. An ocean-based perspective, Archivio antropologico mediterraneo, Anno XXV, 24, 2, pp. 1-17

2020, Dalla montagna alla miniera. La sacralizzazione del nichel nel nord della Nuova Caledonia, LARES, Special issue «Economie umane, economie intime. Né per Dio né per denaro», LXXXVI, 2, pp. 267 -286

2019, Self-determination referendum, mining and ‘interdependence’: Reading the current political conjuncture in New Caledonia, Small States & Territories, 2, 2, pp. 157-170

2016, I kanak nella corrente del capitalismo. Forme di riappropriazione culturale del nichel (Nuova Caledonia), L’uomo, Società Tradizione Sviluppo, Special issue «Nuovi fermenti dell'antropologia oceanistica italiana», 41, 2, pp. 29-48

Book's chapters: 

2022, Pacific Islands: Sources of Raw Materials, in I. Ness and Z. Cope (a cura di), The Oxford Handbook of Economic Imperialism, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 475 - 495

2020, Risorse, miniere, capitalismo indigeno. Il caso Koniambo Nickel (Nuova Caledonia), in A. Favole (a cura di), L’Europa d’Oltremare. Culture, mobilità, ambienti, Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore, pp. 31-42

2020, Essere e apparire come “noi, Kanak” (Nuova Caledonia), in A. Favole (a cura di), L’Europa d’Oltremare. Culture, mobilità, ambienti, Milano: Raffaello Cortina Editore, pp. 183-198

Book's reviews: 

2024, La vie culturelle à Madagascar durant l’ère coloniale (1996-1960), Dominique Ranaivoson (ed.), Editions Kailash, Journal des Africanistes

2023, Ignored Histories: The Politics of History Education and Indigenous-Settler Relations in Australia and Kanaky/New Caledonia, 2022, Angélique Stastny, University of Hawai'i Press, Pacific Affairs

2023, Drawing the Sea Near. Satoumi and coral reef conservation in Okinawa, 2020, Claus Anne, University of Minnesota Press, The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology

2022, The Absence presence of the state in large-scale resource extraction projects, 2021, Nicholas Bainton and Emilia E. Skrzypek (eds.), Asia-Pacific Environment Monograph 15, Pacific Affairs, 95, 2, 403-405

2022, An Anthropology of Deep Time. Geological Temporality and Social Life, 2020, Richard D.G. Irvine (ed.), Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, Antropologia, 9, 2, 185-199