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CFP Energy Anthropology Network at 2026 EASA Conference

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.

In order to facilitate the flow of ideas, we have chosen a roundtable format rather than the more traditional panel format with standard paper presentations. You can send your proposals via this link, where you will also find a full description of the session:  https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easa2026/p/18436#

The deadline for submitting proposals is January 26.

We look forward to receiving your proposals and seeing many of you in Poznan next summer! 

Umberto, Serena & Ragnhild

Summary of 2025 EAN joint workshop in Venice, May 19-21

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, Dominic Boyer 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 anthropologist Rita Vianello about 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


2025 EASA joint workshop in Venice, May 19-21

Dear colleagues,

We are very pleased to announce our collaboration with the EASA HOLB – Human and Other Living Beings and ENVIROANT – Environment and Anthropology Network in organising our upcoming workshop in Venice, 19-21 May 2025:

UNDERCURRENTS. METABOLIC INFRASTRUCTURES OF SURVIVAL

The event will be in person only and will take place at Ca’ Foscari University.

It explores the interconnectedness of energy systems and infrastructures, human and non-human agencies and environmental dynamics. We are particularly looking forward to move forward conversations about the entanglements of infrastructures, the energy flows they shape and their impacts on both human and non-human lifeways in the context of the Anthropocene.

The exciting program includes traditional paper presentations alongside workshops, audio-visual performances and field trips to the Venice lido, where we will have an opportunity to learn more about the barene, an endangered ecological system vital to protect Venice from the tides, and the MOSE, a system of mobile barriers designed to manage flooding in the city.

The full program is available at: https://easaonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Undercurrents-Workshop-Program-21.pdf

For any questions or further information, you can reach EAN at: energyanthropologynetwork@gmail.com

Looking forward to it!

EAN for the organising committee

EAN/FAN Workshop 2023: Renewable Energy and Post-Carbon Futures

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 (katja.mueller@zirs.uni-halle.de) and Ragnhild Freng Dale (rfd@vestforsk.no) 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.

Summary Energy Anthropology Network meeting Belfast (27 July 2022)

Th Energy Anthropology network gathered on 27/7/22 in Belfast. In attendance were: Katja Müller (convenor), Nathalie Ortar, Simone Abram, Selena Saligari, Karen Henwood, Jennifer Speirs, Ana Isabel Afonso, Marten Boekelo, Maria Triton, Pauline Destree, Felix Schiedlowski, Chima Anyadike-Danes, Ben Campbell, Ragnhild Freng Dale, Karen Waltorp, Debora Lanzani and Elisabeth Moolenaar (secretary). 

The network discussed the activities in the last two years.

  • network meeting in Stavanger @ the Petroleum museum “Digitisation and low carbon energy transitions” which was a successful hybrid meeting and lead to a edited volume (see below)
  • the website was updated
  • thanks to Marten Boekelo the network has a regular newsletter
  • the energy dialogues were much appreciated and the network hopes to continue those

Several volumes were produced which were presented at the meeting:

  • Ethnographies of Power
  • Energy Futures
  • Digitisation and low carbon energy transitions

The activities and edited volumes indicate that we have a productive network. The group discussed what’s next. Some suggested a journal or special issue (talk to John Campbell about Urban anthropology journal and Chris gross) We can also think about producing a book series. 

The group also discussed ideas for the meeting in between the biannual EASA meetings. Simone suggested combining it with a conference at Durham in September 2023. Some themes that might lend themselves well for the meeting and collaborating with other networks: mobility and media. The idea arose to survey the network to see what ideas and/or preferences others may have.

Elisabeth Moolenaar resigned her post as network secretary after two terms (2018-2022). Pauline Destree will be the new network secretary. Ragnhild Freng will be Katja Müller’s new co-convenor. Selena Saligari volunteered to manage the social media for the network.

(for additions or revisions to these notes please contact emoolenaar@regis.edu)network

EAN network meeting July 27

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.

Please reach out to us if you have any questions at katja.mueller@zirs.uni-halle.de and/or emoolenaar@regis.edu.

EASA 2022 in Belfast

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?

The Energy Anthropology Network will convene at EASA2022 and for the first time officially sponsor two (!) panels, namely P043 Commoning-decommoning dynamics in climate and energy politics and
P091 Energy transition(s): The promises of renewables and future of the commons.

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!

CFP Eric Wolf Student Paper Prize

The Political Ecology Society (PESO) announces the 2022 Eric Wolf Prize for the best article-length paper. The competition offers a great opportunity as it involves paid registration fees for the Society for Applied Anthropology annual meeting, a feature presentation of the paper at this meeting, and publication in the Journal of Political Ecology!

We seek papers based in substantive field research that make an innovative contribution to political ecology. Clear links to some specific set of political ecology ideas and literature is important. To be eligible for the competition, scholars must be no more than two years past the completion of their Master’s or Ph.D. degree. This includes scholars who have not yet received the Ph.D. and Master’s students. Multiple authored papers are considered as long as the first author meets the above criteria. Be mindful the prize is meant exclusively to support students and newly minted grads. Also, we cannot accept papers that are already under review at a journal.

The deadline for submission is September 5, 2022.

The preferred format for papers is electronic, i.e. Word or PDF. Please contact us, if you need to submit in some other format. Please anonymize your submission and use the style guidelines provided on the Journal of Political Ecology webpage: https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/JPE/about/submissions

As the winning paper will be published in the Journal of Political Ecology, the prize reviewers may request revisions before the item is published.

Electronic submissions and further queries should be sent to Dr. Elisabeth Moolenaar (emoolenaar@regis.edu)

Have you registered for the EASA biennial meeting yet?

The EASA biennial meeting will take place in Belfast from July 26 through July 29. Early bird registration opened on May 20th and will close the end of June.

Registration is by online form only and does not require instant payment. Your registration will be manually processed and an invoice with payment information emailed after a few days. Payment can be taken online by credit card or bank transfer, and invoices should be settled within 15 days.  

How much are conference fees? Early bird fees for f2f participants will be:
Concession member (those with gross annual income below €25,000): 160 GBP
Member: 230 GBP
Non-member: 330 GBP

This fee includes f2f and online access to four days of conference sessions (in 2018 there were more than 180 panels and labs to choose from). It also includes an opening drinks reception, 4 lunches and 6 tea/coffee breaks, access to online chat/networking tools and session recordings. The conference dinner/party ticket is a charged-for extra, to be booked at the time of registration.

Early Bird prices for F2F participants will cease on 20 June (standard fees will be 75 GBP more expensive).

There are no daily registration rates for this event. Day-rates have always been a way to ensure access for those with care obligations and other reasons which limit time away. However in the context of hybrid format and the global ecological crisis, we would encourage those who can only attend for a day to register for online participation.

Early bird fees for virtual participation will be:
Concession member (those with gross annual income below €25,000): 50 GBP
Member: 100 GBP
Non-member: 150 GBP

The registration fee for virtual participation includes online access to all sessions, access to session recordings and online chat/networking tools. The deadline for online registration is July 6, after this point it will not be possible to register for online attendance.

Early Bird prices for virtual participation will continue until 20 June, when prices will rise by 40 GBP.

To register or for more information visit: https://easaonline.org/conferences/easa2022/registration

Ukraine: Energy in the Spotlight seminar series

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 session on deep time reckoning, February 24th, 16-17:45 CE(S)T

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.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://hu-berlin.zoom.us/j/64895468707?pwd=TytjRzFzaHV0RkpiTHVyRXprUFZQdz09

Meeting ID: 648 9546 8707

Password: 407026

CFP, EASA meeting Belfast, July 26-29

Energy anthropology is gaining traction: we have two official EAN panels at the EASA2022 in Belfast! Please check them out and propose papers for:

P043 – Commoning-decommoning dynamics in climate and energy politics (https://easaonline.org/conferences/easa2022/programme#11535)
P091 – Energy transition(s): The promises of renewables and future of the commons (https://easaonline.org/conferences/easa2022/programme#11519)

Deadline for paper submissions is March 21.

There are at least two more panels (P022 and P128) that have a strong energy focus – so we’re looking forward to an engaging conference!

Permanent Research Fellow job opportunity: Interdisciplinary social sciences for sustainability Headlines

Based at Global Sustainability Institute, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK.   

Application deadline: Monday 28 March 2022

Start date: negotiable, likely June 2022 onwards

 Global Sustainability Institute (GSI)Over the past 10 years, the GSI has built a global reputation for delivering research impact and high-quality publications across a broad range of sustainability issues. The GSI undertakes interdisciplinary, action-focussed Social Sciences and Humanities research to support transformations towards sustainable and just societies. The GSI has a particular interest in research that has the potential for real-world impact, and thus has a wide portfolio of applied projects that focus on working with e.g. European Commission, UK Government, local authorities, charities and NGOs, business and industry, etc. Most notably for this post, we have led the €1m European Innovation Forum for energy-related Social Sciences and Humanities (Energy-SHIFTS, 2019-2021) and its €2m predecessor EU platform (SHAPE ENERGY, 2017-2019), and have recently been awarded coordination of the forthcoming €3m European Centre of Excellence for Social Sciences and Humanities research on climate, energy and mobility (SSH CENTRE, 2022-26). We are coordinating the newly launched €5m SHARED GREEN DEAL (2022-2027), which is implementing 24 social experiments across Europe on Green Deal priority areas. We have also received funding from six of the seven UK Research Councils (ESRC, EPSRC, NERC, AHRC, BBSRC, STFC), for example being part of major UKRI centres such as the ESRC’sCentre for Understanding Sustainable Prosperity and EPSRC’s EnergyREV.  

The positionThis is an exciting opportunity to build your own research portfolio in areas that are complementary to the GSI’s current research on the social studies of sustainability/energy transformations. You’ll start off as a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, but there will be ample possibilities to continue progression up the research career ladder (to e.g. Senior Research Fellow; Principal Research Fellow or Associate Professor; Professor). Candidates will be expected to bring their own ideas for development, but will also be given the opportunity to collaborate with GSI colleagues on funding proposals already under development.

Reminder deadline CFP EASA meeting, January 13th!

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 (katja.mueller@zirs.uni-halle.de, siddharth.sareen@uis.no, emoolenaar@regis.edu)).

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.

Happy New Year & CFP EASA biennial meeting 26-29 July in Belfast

Happy new year everyone! We hope the holidays were pleasant for everyone even though the pandemic marches on. With these behind us we hope you will continue your important work in energy anthropology in 2022. Or, for some this may actually be a new endeavour. Whatever the case may be, please know there is a community of scholars working on similar issues that you can access through our energy anthropology network!

This summer we have our biennial meeting coming up 26-29 of July in Belfast. The theme is Transformation, Hope and the Commons. The deadline for the Call for Papers is now extended by ten days to 13th January. The conference is planned as a hybrid event, combining in-person and online participation.  Please read the theme, the instructions and guidelines, information on registration fees before proposing your panel from the Call for Panels page.