Energy Humanities Current State And Future Directions

This edited book explicitly deals with the energy humanities, summarising existing knowledge in the area and outlining possible future directions for the nascent field. Assuming a variety of disciplinary stances and using a plethora of methodologies to address a number of pressing energy-related issues, the individual contributions showcase the crucial importance of including the humanities and social sciences into the current discussion on energy. Furthermore, they illustrate one of the central claims of the energy humanities, namely, that energy permeates all aspects of our contemporary modes of existence, and is inextricably linked with historical, political, social, ideological, and cultural issues, relationships, and practices. Through numerous case studies, Energy Humanities and Energy Transition looks to the past, present, and future in search of examples of best practices and possible models for pathways to a successful energy transition and life ‘after oilʼ. While much of existing research on energy humanities has been criticised for its excessive focus on oil, this book considers a wide range of energy resources, including nuclear energy, renewables, and natural gas. Furthermore, it brings to the forefront under-researched topics such as the colonial legacy inscribed in energy infrastructure and the energy history of the humanities. The contributions in this volume explore not only how the perspectives and expertise of the humanities and social sciences can alter the discourse on energy transition, and our way of thinking about possible solutions and future scenarios, but also how their new focus on energy affects the disciplines themselves. Energy Humanities and Energy Transition presents a variety of theories, methods, topics, and disciplinary angles, meaning it will be of interest to a wide audience, from practitioners and policy makers, to students and researchers working across the humanities and social sciences. The thematically oriented structure, distinct focus of each individual chapter, and the comprehensive introduction and conclusion that contextualize the contributions within the wider framework of energy transition, make this edited book accessible to readers from many different fields and suitable for various university programs.

"... these fields of scholarship are ones that demonstrate how the scale and complexity of the issues being explored demand insights and approaches that transcend old school disciplinary boundaries. This book offers a selection of the most influential work in energy humanities that has appeared over the past decade. Selections range from anthropology and geography to philosophy, history, and cultural studies to recent energy-focused interventions in art and literature..."--Provided by publisher.

This volume investigates energy as a shaping force in Russian and Soviet literature, visual culture, and social practice. Chronologically arranged chapters explain how nineteenth-century ideas about energy informed realist novels and paintings; how the poetics of energy defined pre-Revolutionary and Stalinist utopianism; and how fossil fuels, electricity, and nuclear fission generated distinct aesthetic features in Imperial Russian, Soviet, and post-Soviet literature, cinema, and landscape. The volume’s concentration on Russia responds to a clear need to understand the role the country plays in social, political, and economic processes endangering life on Earth today. The cultural dimension of Russia’s efforts at energy dominance deserves increased scholarly attention not only in its own right, but also because it directly affects global energy policy. As the contributors to this volume argue, the nationally inflected cultural myths that underlie human engagements with energy have been highly consequential in the Anthropocene.

In an era of climate change, deforestation, melting ice caps, poisoned environments, and species loss, many people are turning to the power of the arts and humanities for sustainable solutions to global ecological problems. Introduction to the Environmental Humanities offers a practical and accessible guide to this dynamic and interdisciplinary field. This book provides an overview of the Environmental Humanities’ evolution from the activist movements of the early and mid-twentieth century to more recent debates over climate change, sustainability, energy policy, and habitat degradation in the Anthropocene era. The text introduces readers to seminal writings, artworks, campaigns, and movements while demystifying important terms such as the Anthropocene, environmental justice, nature, ecosystem, ecology, posthuman, and non-human. Emerging theoretical areas such as critical animal and plant studies, gender and queer studies, Indigenous studies, and energy studies are also presented. Organized by discipline, the book explores the role that the arts and humanities play in the future of the planet. Including case studies, discussion questions, annotated bibliographies, and links to online resources, this book offers a comprehensive and engaging overview of the Environmental Humanities for introductory readers. For more advanced readers, it serves as a foundation for future study, projects, or professional development.

Situating Sustainability reframes our understanding of sustainability through an emerging international terrain of concepts and case studies. These approaches include material practices, such as extraction and disaster recovery, and extend into the domains of human rights and education. This volume addresses the need in sustainability science to recognize the deep and diverse cultural histories that define environmental politics. It brings together scholars from cultural studies, anthropology, literature, law, behavioral science, urban studies, design, and development to argue that it is no longer possible to talk about sustainability in general without thinking through the contexts of research and action. These contributors are joined by artists whose public-facing work provides a mobile platform to conduct research at the edges of performance, knowledge production, and socio-ecological infrastructures. Situating Sustainability calls for a truly transdisciplinary research that is guided by the humanities and social sciences in collaboration with local actors informed by histories of place. Designed for students, scholars, and interested readers, the volume introduces the conceptual practices that inform the leading edge of engaged research in sustainability.

How social media has become a critical tool for advancing the interests of the Canadian oil industry Petroturfing presents an incisive look into how Canada’s pro-oil movement has leveraged social media to rebrand the extractive economy as a positive force. Adapting its title from the concept of astroturfing, which refers to the practice of disguising political and corporate media campaigns as grassroots movements, the book exposes the consequences of this mutually informed relationship between social media and environmental politics. Since the early 2010s, an increasingly influential network of pro-oil groups, organizations, and campaigns has harnessed social media strategies originally developed by independent environmental organizations in order to undermine resistance to the fossil fuel industry. Situating these actions within the broader oil culture wars that have developed as an outgrowth of contemporary right-wing media, Petroturfing details how this coalition of groups is working to reform the public view of oil extraction as something socially, economically, and ecologically beneficial. By uncovering these concerted efforts to influence the “energy consciousness,” Jordan B. Kinder reveals the deep divide between Canada’s environmentally progressive reputation and the economic interests of its layers of government and private companies operating within its borders. Drawing attention to the structures underlying online political expression, Petroturfing highlights the limitations of social media networks in the work of promoting environmental justice and contributing to a more equitable future.

More than a decade after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, what we are witnessing is not a Second Nuclear Age – there is no post-atomic – but an uncanny, quiet return of the nuclear threat that so vividly animated the Cold War era. The renewed threat of nuclear proliferation, public complacency regarding weapons stockpiles, and the lack of a single functioning long-term repository after seventy years and thousands of tonnes of nuclear waste reveals the industry’s capacity for self-reinvention abetted by an ever-present capacity to forget. More than “fabulously textual,” as Jacques Derrida described it, the protean, unbound, and unending materiality of the nuclear is here to stay: resistance is crucial. Toxic Immanence introduces contemporary interdisciplinary perspectives that resist and decolonize the nuclear. Contributors highlight the prevalence and irrationality of slow violence and colonial governance as elements of the contemporary nuclear age. They propose a reappraisal of Cold War-era anti-nuclear art as well as pop culture representations of nuclear disaster, while decolonizing pedagogies advance the role of education in communicating and understanding the lethality of nuclear complexes. Collectively, the essays develop a robust critical discourse across fields of nuclear knowledge and integrate the work of the nuclear humanities with environmental justice and Indigenous rights activism. This reach across ways of knowing extends artistically: the poetry and photography included in this volume offer visions of past and present nuclear legacies. Conceived as a critical reflection on the potential of nuclear humanities, Toxic Immanence offers intellectual strategies for resisting and abolishing the global nuclear regime.

Eco-Concepts: Critical Reflections in Emerging Ecocritical Theory and Ecological Thought offers an intellectual journey through the ever-evolving landscapes of environmental discourse. This thought-provoking volume brings together contributors from international scholarship to scrutinize and illuminate the contemporary trends reshaping our understanding of the natural environment. From the intricate interplay of rising ecocritical theories like restoration and empirical ecocriticism to the nuanced shifts in the reimagining of ecological concepts, this book unravels the complexities of our relationship with the natural sphere. This scholarly collection serves as a compass, guiding readers through the uncharted territories of environmental scholarship or revisiting existing study through fresh critical perspectives. Eco-Concepts strives to become an essential source of reference for academics, students, and individuals seeking an in-depth exploration of the innovative notions influencing the trajectory of discussions on ecology.