The Energy and Social Science Reading Group will meet online to discuss reading selections from Crude Capitalism by Adam Hanieh, with Sandy Smith-Nonini from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill as Discussant. It would be great to include you in the conversation, which Lee Towers of Teeside University will moderate.
Date: Friday, September 26, 2025
Time: 1400h – 1530h CET (or 1300h – 1430h GMT)
Discussant: Sandy Smith-Nonini
Moderator: Lee Towers
Readings: Hanieh, Adam. Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market. New York: Verso, 2024. Suggested selections below.
The book is an interesting and readable account of the relationship between oil and capitalist power, emphasizing the post-WWII period. It brings together a narrative told in chapters 2-3 about the establishment of international dominance by US oil multinationals, with a second narrative in chapters 6 and 8, regarding anti-colonial challenges in the 1950s and 1960s, ultimately producing the 1970s oil crisis and neoliberal turn. Hanieh’s academic project is interesting for its ability to span between themes of labor justice and ecological justice, and for its emphasis on the production and marketing of consumer products. I recommend it for those of us who wish to further strengthen our understanding of oil’s place within the global economy, and how this place was constructed through a very specific political and historical background, the aftermath of which is still actively configuring today’s possibilities for action. We recommend focusing on reading the Introduction (or at least pp. 8-14 & 18-26), Chapter 6 on Anti-Colonial Revolt & OPEC, Chapter 7 on Petrochemicals, and the Conclusion before the meeting.
The organisers hope that you can access it through your library or workplace, but if access difficulties emerge, please reach out.
The reading group openly collects future reading suggestions, and uses the last five minutes of our calls to vote on the next reading. We have set the target of meeting roughly every six weeks during the academic year. The group began within the anthropological discipline, but welcomes a diversity of participation within and beyond academia. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.
For more information or the video conference link, please email: [email protected]
