Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
Accepted Paper:
Energy talk, temporality, and belonging in austerity Greece
Daniel Knight
(University of St Andrews)
Paper short abstract:
Drawing on ethnographic research in the town of Trikala, central Greece, this paper demonstrates how “energy talk” provides a prism through which locals discuss the past, the future, increasing poverty and reassess their belonging in a modern Europe.
Paper long abstract:
Dramatic changes in the energy landscape provide a lens through which to understand local perceptions of temporality, modernity, and belonging in austerity Greece. Re-launched in 2011, the European Union supported solar energy initiative encourages installation of futuristic, high-tech photovoltaic panels on fertile agricultural land. However, winter 2012-13 and 2013-14 witnessed a return en-masse to open-fires and wood-burning stoves as a means for people to heat their homes, something locals associate with material poverty, pre-modernity, and pre-Europeanization. Drawing on ethnographic research in the town of Trikala, central Greece, this paper demonstrates how "energy talk" provides a prism through which locals discuss the past, the future, increasing poverty and reassess their belonging in a modern Europe.