Topic: Anthropology / Energy Reading Group
Time: December 6, 2024 14:00-15:30 CET (2:00-3:30 PM)
Discussant & Moderator: Mallory James
In a 2018 ethnography, Dana Powell presents “modalities of power” (17) that coexist and become evident in the Navajo/ Diné contestation over the proposed Desert Rock power station. Specifically, Powell portrays powers that go beyond what global analytics of “environmentalism” or “transition” would signify, specifically working through the “material-subterranean, cultural-political, knowledge-practices, and ethical-cosmological” modalities of power that coexist in Diné landscapes and became part of the contestation over the proposed electric power plant. The power plant was never built, but it would have operated in an export economy without direct infrastructural ties to local off-grid homes, and nevertheless would have had major economic and political ramifications for Indigenous sovereignty–ramifications and legacies which the contestation made evident to Powell and his interlocutors. Desert Rock “had the power to produce politics: it articulated abiding concerns and generated shifts in contemporary debates over tribal sovereignty, development, expertise, and environmentalism itself” (3). Empirical material for this ethnography ranges widely, including both not limited to artistic production and accounts of public hearing sessions, as well as the experience of engaging with families and communities that have prior firsthand experience with other anthropologists as well as working in campaigns with different relationships with proposed energy infrastructure. Anthropologists interested in ethics, modernity, colonialism, and energy engineering will find much of interest here. On 6 December our reading group will convene online to discuss Landscapes of Power: Politics of Energy in the Navajo Nation. As with previous book-length works, we suggest that attendees read the introduction, conclusion, and at least one internal chapter of the book that speaks to their interests. Attendance is open to all; and regular attendees share responsibilities for suggesting future readings and occasionally hosting, moderating, or presenting discussant comments at the beginning of specific meetings. This will be the last meeting for 2024.
For more information or the videoconference link, please email
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