Phosphopraxis - Nutriens are not neutral

Abstract

This article introduces phosphopraxis as a critical spatial methodology to examine the entangled material, discursive, and geopolitical domains of phosphate rock. Moving beyond technical picturing of soil health and scalable solutions, it retraces phosphate’s journey from mineral to commodity, revealing how its extraction and circulation underpin colonial genealogies, infrastructural violence, and contemporary governance regimes. Through archival research, fieldwork, and visual documentation, the study foregrounds the historiographical invisibility of extractive architectures in Western Sahara and their enduring impact on land, bodies, and sovereignty. Challenging dominant narratives of development and neutrality, phosphopraxis advocates for multiscalar investigations that resist abstraction and instead attend to the situated complexities of mineral relations. Ultimately, the article calls for epistemic practices that bridge site specificity with planetary interdependence, illuminating phosphate’s spectral presence in the built environment and its role in shaping both dispossession and resistance.