Julia Keenan

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Julia Keenan is a leading scholar at the intersection of corporate social responsibility, technological disruption, and extractive industries. Her work critically examines how emerging technologies—from artificial intelligence and robotics to advanced communications—reshape the social and ethical landscape of mining. Keenan’s most-cited paper, “Corporate responsibility and the social risk of new mining technologies” (2019, 37 citations), offers a groundbreaking analysis of how the industry’s optimistic technological narrative often obscures new forms of social risk, including community displacement, labor displacement, and governance challenges. This work has become essential reading for researchers and practitioners seeking to understand the unintended consequences of innovation in resource extraction. Beyond this, Keenan’s broader research portfolio consistently interrogates the gap between corporate sustainability rhetoric and on-the-ground realities, making her a vital voice in debates about responsible mining in the digital age. Her contributions are especially valued by students and scholars in environmental sociology, business ethics, and science and technology studies, where she provides a much-needed critical lens on the promises and perils of technological progress in high-stakes industrial contexts.