The Energy and Social Science Reading Group will meet online to discuss reading selections from Carbon Technocracy: Energy Regimes in Modern East Asia (2021). Mallory James from LMU Munich will be the Discussant.
Date: Friday, December 5, 2025
Time: 1400h – 1530h CET (or 1300h – 1430h GMT, 8:00-9:30 AM EST)
Discussant: Mallory James
Moderator: Nikita Taniparti
Readings: Victor Seow. (2021). Carbon Technocracy: Energy Regimes in Modern East Asia.
Suggested Readings: Introduction, Ch.2 “Technological Enterprise,” and Ch.4 “Imperial Extraction.”
This multiply-awarded historical book addresses a coal mine and mining town in Northeastern China (Fushun). There, coal extraction was the focus of technological innovation and labor control; and the consequences of choices made for this mine and this town had ramifications for industrialization, ecology, statecraft, and technology across East Asia. As we all know, societies are struggling with the material and imaginative legacies of fossil-fuel-based ‘development.’ This is a revelant work in the history of technology to inform socio-political energy research because it draws on extensive primary sources, takes a strong interest in the material peculiarities of coal technologies, and thematizes social power above and beyond material differences in ways of living.
This reading group is open to anyone interested in reading and discussing the latest publications focused on political ecology, political economy, and energy transitions. We are a network of scholars who convene virtually around every 6 weeks during the academic year to debate and discuss these texts. We will use the last five minutes of our call to vote on the next reading. Please feel free to contact us with any questions ([email protected]) or to receive the Zoom link.
