We are looking forward to seeing some of you in Poznan for a few days of intellectual exchange and networking!
This year’s programme sees an exponential number of energy-related panels and roundtables – a testament to how central energy remains for the discipline (and the world!). We have compiled a list for you to make sure you can make the most of the available opportunities!
EAN SPONSORED PANELS
RT22 – Between Green Extractivism and Fossil Fascism: The Role of Critical Anthropology
The official roundtable organised by EAN.
POLITICUM, 137 – Thursday 23 July, 11:30-13:15
P153 – Opacity and Energy Knowledge: Getting to Just, Sustainable Energy Policy in a Polarising World
Panel sponsored by EAN.
HISTORICUM 3.45 – Wednesday 22 July, 9-10.45 and 11.30-13.15
OTHER ENERGY RELATED PANELS
P128 – Everyday maintenance of energy infrastructure in a polarized world
POLITICUM 135 – Thursday 23 July, 11;30-13.15
RT14 – Ecofeminist ethnographies of “green” energy projects: destabilising colonial structures in energy transitions
POLITICUM 136 – Friday 24 July, 9:00-10:45
P059 -Polarized Destinies: Land, Value, and Justice in the Renewable Energy Transition
BIOLOGICUM – Tuesday 21 July, 13:45-15:30 and 16:15-18:00
EAN Network meeting
Come along to meet – or reconnect – with fellow anthropologists of energy. We will be in Morasko Campus on Wednesday 22nd between 13.30-14.45. If you won’t be at EASA this year, no issue: an online meeting room will be set up for you to join remotely. We will share a link with instructions later on.
EAN Social (& Drinks)
We have partnered with our friends from HOLB, FAN and EnviroANT to have an informal gathering at Kontener Art on Wednesday 22nd at 8pm. Please come along whether you have attended any of our panels/roundtables or not – the more the merrier!
EAN Elections
It is that time again: we are looking for new convenors to bring fresh perspectives and ideas to the Network. If you are interested, please come and chat with us at the Network meeting or social on the 22nd July to learn more about what the convenor’s role involves. To express your interest, or to know more in case you won’t be able to attend EASA in person, please drop us an email at [email protected]
Our Energy Anthropology Network (EAN) is pleased to convene a roundtable at the upcoming EASA conference in Poznan (21–24 July 2026).
The roundtable title is ‘Between Green Extractivism and Fossil Fascism: The Role of Critical Anthropology’ and it aims to prompt a reflection on the role, possibilities and challenges for the anthropology of energy, between two extreme poles that we have referred to as green extractivism and fossil fascism.
On Monday morning, attendees slowly made their way to Venice’s old town — most of them slightly jet-lagged from late-night flights. By 9 a.m., the city had settled into that perfect mix of calm and inspiration, setting the scene for us to come together, share ideas, make connections and get some real thinking done. We were all ready and excited to start our EASA biannual workshop, organised together with other two EASA networks: EnviroAnt– Environment and Anthropology – and HOLB – Human and Other Living Being.
UNDERCURRENTS: Metabolic Infrastructures of Survival was hosted by Ca’ Foscari University of Venice—a setting that was anything but incidental. What better place to explore the themes of our workshop than a city that offers countless examples of how natural environments are shaped by living beings as they strive to create ecologies and infrastructures suitable for everyday life?
Day 1
To welcome us were the Networks convenors: Umberto Cao (EAN), Cormac Cleary, Pauline Destree & Zeynep Oguz (EnviroAnt), Elena Stecca, Amelia Veitch & Valentina Bonifacio (HOLB). The grand Auditorium Santa Margherita, adorned with its historic paintings, warmly welcomed attendees as they settled into their seats, eager to dive into the exciting programme ahead. Three days filled with panel presentations, interactive workshops, audio-visual performances and fieldtrips.
No time was wasted though – by 9:30 we were already delving into the flesh of our workshop. The morning panels opened up rich conversations around the entangled relations between species, energy, and environments. We explored how infrastructures—both visible and hidden—shape and are shaped by multispecies interactions, ecological pressures, and political tensions. From landscapes transformed by care and neglect to the temporal rhythms of electricity and resistance, the discussions set the stage for deep, grounded, and sometimes provocative opportunities to debate.
The presentations unfolded amidst the subtle industriousness of Luciana Frau, who was quietly setting up her ongoing exhibition To Mold —a series of photographs and installations—around us as we talked. Her work, emerging in real time, gently echoed many of the themes we were discussing, adding a layered, tactile presence to the space.
An interactive afternoon followed, with workshops that invited participants to experiment, reflect and create together. Through play, making and writing, we explored how ecological crises, supply chains and multispecies futures can be approached not only analytically, but also affectively and collaboratively. These sessions offered a more hands-on engagement with the workshop’s themes, sparking lively exchanges and unexpected connections across disciplines and practices. Some of us even made keyrings from the rubble of Turkey 2023’s earthquake while reflecting on how waste is socialise and given new life after catastrophes.
The afternoon continued with a rich and evocative audiovisual program, offering multisensory perspectives on ecological entanglements across diverse landscapes. From northern mining towns and Mediterranean wetlands to Florentine parks and coastal lagoons, the films and presentations traced how human and non-human lives become intertwined through extractivism, displacement, care and resistance. The directors’ Q&A brought the pieces into dialogue, deepening reflections on the aesthetic and political dimensions of multispecies storytelling. The evening closed with an immersive soundscape from the Venetian Lagoon—an embodied reminder of the very environment surrounding our workshop.
Day 2
On Day 2, we gathered in the beautiful Aula Baratto, overlooking the Grand Canal. We were joined by two special guests, DominicBoyer and Cymene Howe from Rice University, whose work has been foundational in shaping conversations around energy, infrastructure and more-than-human worlds. The morning panels opened with reflections on atmosphere, immersion and the sensory dimensions of being in place—followed by sharp insights into the metabolic logics of contemporary infrastructures, from petrostate politics to speculative green energy futures. These talks brought theoretical depth and new provocations to our discussions, grounding them in urgent ecological and geopolitical realities.
It wasn’t long before we were on our feet again. By late morning, we gathered in the Ca’ Foscari patio and boarded a vaporetto bound for Lido Island, leaving behind the stone courtyards of Venice for sandy shores and sea breezes. The day’s excursion brought the workshop themes into the field—quite literally—starting with lunch among the bees at the social farm “Azienda Agricola Sociale Terre Ritrovate”, where ecological care is practiced daily. Walking along the coast to Alberoni, we heard from local anthropologistRita Vianelloabout the MOSE flood barrier and the tensions between technological intervention and island life as this infrastructure became entangled with corrupted politics, mismanagement and a top-down approach to altering the landscape.
The journey then led to Malamocco, where members of the grassroots group “Poveglia per tutti” shared stories of resistance and collective care, explaining how they launched a crowdfunding campaign to stop the island of Poveglia from falling into private hands. As the sun lowered, we took the boat back to Venice to share a dinner in the amazing facilities of “Tocia”, a local collective who cooked for us an amazing meal that brought a fitting close to a day shaped by movement, encounters, and grounded, place-based knowledge
Day 3
On day 3, we changed location again to meet at the management campus and dive into a series of panels focusing on watery landscapes and ecological entanglements. The morning sessions explored how states, communities and species negotiate water – from Soviet infrastructural ambitions to grassroots activism against invasive species in the Venetian lagoon. As the day progressed, conversations turned toward the complexities of tracking ecological knowledge across scales, from local biodiversity networks in Spain to tech-driven sustainability efforts in India and Turkey. After lunch, we reflected on the emotional and cultural afterlives of environmental change, with moving discussions on mourning glaciers, decolonising coastal infrastructures and the sonic landscapes of ecological memory. These panels wove together diverse perspectives on how water and ecology shape, and are shaped by, histories, politics and multispecies lives.
Another round of workshops followed as a closing to the event, offering participants a chance to engage creatively and critically with themes of multispecies relationships, storytelling as resistance, and the intersections of myth and environment. These parallel sessions invited hands-on exploration and reflection, providing a dynamic and thoughtful conclusion to the workshop.
Reluctant to say goodbye, we seized the last opportunity to connect further by sharing a meal together at one of Venice’s many charming osterie. With the promise to reunite soon, we made plans to meet again at EASA in Poznan in July 2026!
We would like to thank:
The collective TOCIA, for their amazing food catering throughout the workshop.
Valentina Bonifacio and the staff of Ca’ Foscari University for the warm welcome and the unwavering support throughout the workshop
Dr Serena Saligari, Secretary of the Energy Anthropology Network
Energy Anthropology & Futures Anthropologies Network workshop, 15-17 June 2023
We are excited to announce that the 2023 EAN Workshop will take place in Summer 2023 in Lisbon, Portugal! The workshop’s conference theme – as voted by our network poll – will be Renewable Energy and Post-Carbon Futures. This year’s workshop is extra special, as it will be an EAN-FAN collaboration, organised jointly by the Energy Anthropology Network and the Future Anthropology Network. The Call for Papers is now open, and closes on January 3rd 2023. We look forward to seeing you in Lisbon!
Call for Papers
The climate crisis requires a global shift away from dependence on fossil fuel energy. Globally, more than 70% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions must be cut by 2050 to keep global warming well below 2°C. Electricity generation from renewable energy sources will be central to the needed transition, yet expectations of a constant supply of electricity to fuel ever-expanding production, energy security and affordability present challenges to the creation of just and decarbonised futures. While the pace of decarbonisation needs to increase, growth of the sector can, but does not necessarily reconfigure power and hierarchies within and between nations. Renewable energy systems can also pose a threat to societies, nature and planetary health, and have become increasingly scrutinized over issues of mineral extraction, financialisation, infrastructural expansions or waste disposal. While low-carbon energy transitions are presented as crucial to counter fossil fuel dominance, they too can (and have) become entangled into neo-colonial ambitions and growth imperatives. This raises important questions about the potential political landscapes of a post-fossil fuel era. Which futures are made possible by low-carbon energy production, and which are foreclosed? What comprises ‘successful’ energy systems – and for whom? As the world moves towards post-fossil and low-carbon futures, how can anthropology and the social sciences contribute to the making of just and sustainable futures?
We invite engaged energy and future anthropologists and other interdisciplinary counterparts from geography, science and technology studies, political ecology and similar disciplines into a critically constructive forum of discussion. Presentations that incorporate multimodal approaches to these themes are encouraged. Please submit a 250-500 words abstract to Katja Müller ([email protected]) and Ragnhild Freng Dale ([email protected]) by 10 Jan 2023. Include your institutional affiliation and whether you would like to participate remotely or in person. The Energy Anthropology and Future Anthropologies Networks are pleased to hold this workshop in cooperation with the Centro em Rede de Investigação em Antropologia at the Instituto Universitário de Lisboa during 15-17 June 2023.
In less than a week we will be meeting with network members at the EASA conference in Belfast. Please join us 27 July 17:00-18:45pm to discuss:
our workshop for 2023 (we always organize a mini network gathering/conference in between the biannual meetings)
collaborations or projects members are interested in
open positions — are you interested in becoming more active in the network? We have at least two positions that are officially at the end of their term: secretary and convenor
Registered and unregistered participants can join.
EASA 2022 is coming up soon! It will be a hybrid conference hosted by the Queen’s University Belfast and is particularly focused on the connections between hope and political projects of (un)commoning. This gives us a way of thinking about political, social, economic, environmental and cultural transformations in the context of the pandemic and beyond. Are there transformations for which we can hope? If so, how can we hope for such transformations? What kinds of transformations should be in-common or what kinds of transformations are best left as uncommon?
And besides contemporary politics, here’s another indication that energy anthropology is gaining traction: P022 Uncommon exporations between green technologies, climate hopes and the anthropological imagination and P128 The European energy sector in transformation have a strong energy focus, and P146 Experimental transformations – Living labs as hopeful commons and P008 Infrastructural makeshifts: the temporality and materiality of hope in times of urban transformations also explicitly invited contributions from energy research.
The network meeting will be held on Wednesday afternoon (17:00-18:45 Belfast time). Attendance is possible for those registered as well as unregistered.
We are looking forward to an engaging conference for and beyond energy anthropology!
Presented in conjunction with CRSCEES, the Centre for Energy Ethics invites you to join them for a “Ukraine: Energy in the Spotlight” 5-part seminar series that will run virtually every Thursday at 2pm BST, starting on 7 April. Joined by Ukrainian experts and special guests from and beyond the region, the seminar series will delve into the everyday energy realities faced by Ukrainians, the new ethical dimensions of energy that have emerged from the war, and the transregional implications for energy futures in Ukraine and worldwide.
Part 1: Nuclear Worlds, Thursday 7 AprilPart 2: Natural Gas & Pipeline Geopolitics, Thursday 14 AprilPart 3: Electricity Networks – Connecting Worlds by Wires, Thursday 21 AprilPart 4: Oil Markets and Crude Politics, Thursday 28 AprilPart 5: Coal, Old and New, Thursday 5 May Register and find out more information here.
Crucially, the Centre for Energy Ethics invites donations to the University’s Hardship Appeal for St Andrews students and staff affected by the war in Ukraine. Assisting with accommodation, living expenses and other incidentals faced in the months ahead, the Fund aims to provide peace of mind that St Andrews will remain a safe and supportive haven for anyone directly affected by the war. Donate here.
ETROD welcomes Vincent Ialenti to discuss the introduction to his book “Deep time reckoning: How Future Thinking Can Help Earth Now“ (2020, MIT Press) in which he argues that we need to become “more skilled deep time reckoners” and to learn to inhabit a longer now.
Topic: ETROD – Extractivism and Transition Research Online Dialogues
Time: Feb 24, 2022 04:00 PM Amsterdam, Berlin, Rome, Stockholm, Vienna
ETROD occurs every month on the Fourth Thursday. Three upcoming dates: Feb 24, March 24, April 28 all at 4pm CEST.
This Thursday is the deadline for panel proposals for the EASA biennial meeting this summer. EAN is guaranteed one accepted panel, so please indicate in your proposal that you would like it to be considered for the Energy Anthro Network by writing [Energy Anthro Network] after your proposal title (when submitting or afterwards by editing it through Cocoa). Please let the network convenors know if you want your panel to be sponsored by emailing Katja, Siddharth or Elisabeth ([email protected], [email protected], [email protected])).
The rules for panel submission have become a bit more extensive: among other things you must make sure that there are at least two people from different institutions (ideally: countries) convening, with at least one having a PhD and at least one being present in Belfast during the fully hybrid conference. Please feel free to use the EAN list if you are looking for someone to partner up with, e.g. through stating the proposed panel title, your institution and whether you’d like to attend in person – people interested might then use the chance to reply to you directly.
Silvia Grandi is the inaugural AAG Energy and Environment Specialty Group Invited Lecture. Professor Grandi is a permanent director at the Italian Ministry of Economic Development since 2010 and works on a variety of national and European energy and environment committees. Her research focuses on sustainable development, circular economies, natural resources, and European environmental policies. For more information about Professor Grandi, you can visit her website at: https://www.unibo.it/sitoweb/s.grandi
Details about the second Fall 2021 invited lecturer will be published in the coming weeks. To stay up to date on all things EESG, visit the website or follow us on Twitter.
The next ETROD & CityIndustries session is scheduled for Thursday, August 19th, 4pm CEST. We’ll discuss with Gargi Bhattacharyya the fourth chapter of her book “Racial Capitalism“. If you feel like joining this online dialogue and haven’t already signed up and received the chapter, please email Katja Müller [email protected]
Discuss the article Populism, Instability, and Rupture in Sustainability Transformations with us and its author. Access to article: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2020.1866486
If you feel like joining the discussion next Thursday, July 15th at 4pm CEST, please read Havard’s text and email [email protected] for the Zoom link.
North American Wind Energy Academy is accepting abstracts: NAWEA/WindTech 2021 https://www.naweawindtech2021.org/about/
The NAWEA/WindTech 2021 conference will take place in-person at the University of Delaware, USA, on September 22-24, 2021
Social/environmental Track Call for Abstracts We start from the premise that deployment of wind turbines and related grid infrastructure on a scale to transform the energy economy is a public policy issue. Without a comprehensive appreciation of the realities of the larger human and environmental context, society may fall well short of realizing the full potential of wind energy. We thus seek cross-sectional analyses and case studies, quantitative, qualitative and mixed-method approaches from not only the United States and Canada, but also from beyond our borders, on-land and offshore.
Submit an abstract: https://www.naweawindtech2021.org/abstract-submission/
For those who “care” for energy infrastructures (or work with people who do), please consider sharing or contributing to this session at the STS Conference in Graz (Austria), 4-6 May. Description below.
The abstract needs to be submitted using the online form. It should not exceed 500 words, max. 5 keywords. Choose the number of the session in which your presentation should be included (Thematic field “Towards Low-Carbon Energy Systems”; session “C.7Taking care of energy infrastructures”).
Submission deadline for abstracts is January 20, 2020.
C.7 Taking care of energy infrastructures
Loloum, Tristan, Fürst, Moritz, Bovet, Alain (Université de Lausanne)
The energy transition is often framed in terms of a technological challenge and an engineering problem, involving innovative design, efficient planning, and effective optimization of energy infrastructures and the built environment. This innovation-centric view tends to neglect the fact that ‘change’ often occurs once energy systems are already in place, through incremental adaptations, additions and enhancements. The focus on engineers, planners and designers also puts aside the many actors in charge of operating and maintaining such systems on a daily basis: grid operators, HVAC technicians, facility managers, installers, caretakers, etc.
Drawing on authors like Maria Puig de la Bellacasa (2017), Dona Haraway (2016) and Bruno Latour (2013), we argue that fixing ‘things’ and taking care of energy infrastructure implies more than maintaining their technical functioning: it means caring for the people who use them and their environments, and it requires active engagement, social skills and a sense of concern towards associations between humans and non-humans. The session therefore extends on current debates in science and technology studies and energy social science that (I) observe how classical dichotomies (e.g. between planning and operation, professionals and users, engineers and technicians, people and machines) are maintained, and sometimes contested and reconfigured; (II) investigate energy infrastructure and energy transition at the level of everyday lay and professional care-taking activities, i.e. considering energy practices as situated and culturally embedded realities rather than in terms of dominant paradigms of technological innovation and economic rationality.
This panel session invites contributors from all disciplinary horizons, looking at energy infrastructure “from below and within”, focusing on operation routines, control rooms, repair and maintenance, incremental improvements, “middle actors” (technicians, installers, controllers, caretakers, facility managers), disruption, practices of daily-use and socio-technical encounters. We particularly encourage prospective participants to emphasize the richness of empirical material in their presentations, exhibit visual and/or audio data, or even material objects that can form a basis for a fruitful discussion. If appropriate conditions are in place, the session will be introduced or followed up by a quick tour of the conference venue’s infrastructural backstage and a discussion with one of the building’s facility managers in order to get a concrete grasp of what energy infrastructure is, and what taking care of it actually entails.
KEYWORDS: energy infrastructure, care, operation, repair & maintenance, energy practices
