Publications
Dr. Klinger’s 2017 book, “Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes,”
was awarded the Meridian Book Prize for its “unusually important contribution to the art and science of geography.”
In this book, Dr. Klinger examines the global geography of rare earth prospecting and mining, with a special emphasis on the development and geopolitics of resource frontiers in Brazil, China, and Outer Space. China currently accounts for 80% of global rare earth production, but that is changing. Much of the literature suggests that China’s virtual monopoly is the outcome of geological determinism, and the quest to mine these resources in the Brazilian Amazon and on the Moon is due to their absolute rarity. But contrary to much of the conventional wisdom underpinning contemporary global rare earth politics, these elements are neither rare, nor so dispersed that they can only be found on the Mongolian steppe, the Brazilian Amazon, or indeed, on ‘Earth’s offshore island.’
Her work has been published in The Extractive Industries and Society, Journal of Chinese Political Science, Nikkei Asian Review, Dialogo Chino, Sustainability, NACLA, and The Political Economy of Rare Earth Elements. She is the guest editor of special issues published in Geopolitics, The Extractive Industries and Society, Journal of Latin American Geography, and Territory, Politics, Governance. Dr. Klinger regularly writes and comments on these research areas for popular media outlets.