Series Editors: Jelena Tošić, University of St. Gallen; Sabine Strasser, University of Bern; Annika Lems, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle VOLUME 42 Social anthropology in Europe is growing, and the variety of work being done is Loloum, Abram and Ortar, eds. and Ortar, Abram Loloum, expanding. This series is intended to present the best of the work produced by Published members of the EASA, both in monographs and in edited collections. The studies in association in this series describe societies, processes and institutions around the world and with the European Association of Social are intended for both scholarly and student readerships. Anthropologists (EASA) VOLUME 42 ETHNOGRAPHIES OF POWER A Political Anthropology of Energy Edited by Tristan Loloum, Simone Abram and Nathalie Ortar ETHNOGRAPHIES OF POWER The strengths of the collection lie primarily in the chapters’ rich ethnographic examination of the everyday politics engendered by state-initiated and/or directed energy fl ows and extractions – on existing, typically rural practices with their own temporality and logics. Thomas F. Love, Linfield College ETHNOGRAPHIES Energy related infrastructures are crucial to political organization. They shape the contours of states and international bodies, as well as corporations and communities, framing their material existence and their fears and idealizations of the future. Ethnographies of Power OF POWER brings together ethnographic studies of contemporary entanglements of energy and political power. Revisiting classic anthropological notions of power, it asks how changing energy related infrastructures are implicated in the consolidation, extension or subversion A Political Anthropology of Energy of contemporary political regimes and discovers what they tell us about politics today. Tristan Loloum is Associate Professor at the School of Social Work, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland, HES-SO Valais-Wallis. Simone Abram is Professor of Anthropology at Durham University (UK) and a director of the Durham Energy Institute. Nathalie Ortar is Senior Researcher in anthropology at the University of Lyon ENTPE (École nationale des travaux publics de l’État). Cover photo: Copyright by MaxPixel, https://www.maxpixel.net/. Edited by Tristan Loloum, Simone Abram POLITICAL & ECONOMIC ANTHROPOLOGY and Nathalie Ortar berghahn NEW YORK . OXFORD www.berghahnbooks.com ETHNOGRAPHIES OF POWER This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Not for resale. EASA Series Published in Association with the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) Series Editors: Jelena Tošić, University of St. Gallen; Sabine Strasser, University of Bern; Annika Lems, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle Social anthropology in Europe is growing, and the variety of work being done is expanding. This series is intended to present the best of the work produced by members of the EASA, both in monographs and in edited collections. The studies in this series describe societies, processes and institutions around the world and are intended for both scholarly and student readership. Recent volumes: 42. ETHNOGRAPHIES OF POWER 37. NON-HUMANS IN A Political Anthropology of Energy AMERINDIAN SOUTH AMERICA Edited by Tristan Loloum, Simone Abram Ethnographies of Indigenous Cosmologies, and Nathalie Ortar Rituals and Songs Edited by Juan Javier Rivera Andía 41. EMBODYING BORDERS A Migrant’s Right to Health, Universal 36. ECONOMY, CRIME AND Rights and Local Policies WRONG IN A NEOLIBERAL ERA Edites by Laura Ferrero, Chiara Edited by James G. Carrier Quagliariello and Ana Cristina Vargas 35. BEING-HERE 40. THE SEA COMMANDS Placemaking in a World of Movement Community and Perception of the Annika Lems Environment in a Portuguese Fishing Village 34. EXPERIMENTAL Paulo Mendes COLLABORATIONS Ethnography through Fieldwork Devices 39. CAN ACADEMICS CHANGE Edited by Adolfo Estalella and Tomás THE WORLD? Sánchez Criado An Israeli Anthropologist’s Testimony on the Rise and Fall of a Protest Movement on 33. BACK TO THE Campus POSTINDUSTRIAL FUTURE Moshe Shokeid An Ethnography of Germany’s Fastest- Shrinking City 38. INSTITUTIONALISED DREAMS Felix Ringel The Art of Managing Foreign Aid Elz˙bieta Dra˛z˙kiewicz For a full volume listing, please see the series page on our website: https://www.berghahnbooks.com/series/easa This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Not for resale. ETHNOGRAPHIES OF POWER A Political Anthropology of Energy Edited by Tristan Loloum, Simone Abram and Nathalie Ortar berghahn N E W Y O R K • O X F O R D www.berghahnbooks.com This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Not for resale. First published in 2021 by Berghahn Books www.berghahnbooks.com © 2021 Tristan Loloum, Simone Abram and Nathalie Ortar All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Loloum, Tristan, editor. | Abram, Simone, editor. | Ortar, Nathalie, editor. Title: Ethnographies of power : a political anthropology of energy / edited by Tristan Loloum, Simone Abram and Nathalie Ortar. Description: New York, N.Y. : Berghahn Books, 2021. | Series: EASA series ; 42 | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifi ers: LCCN 2020051924 (print) | LCCN 2020051925 (ebook) | ISBN 9781789209792 (hardback) | ISBN 9781800730380 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Power resources—Social aspects. | Energy consumption— Social aspects. | Energy industries—Social aspects. | Power (Social sciences) Classifi cation: LCC HD9502.A2 E86 2021 (print) | LCC HD9502.A2 (ebook) | DDC 333.79—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051924 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020051925 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This work is published subject to a Creative Commons Attribution Noncom- mercial No Derivatives 4.0 International license. The terms of the license can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/4.0/. For uses beyond those covered in the license, contact Berghahn Books. The electronic open access publication of Ethnographies of Power has been made possible through the generous fi nancial support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. ISBN 978-1-78920-979-2 hardback ISBN 978-1-80073-038-0 open access ebook This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Not for resale. Contents List of Figures vii Acknowledgements ix Introduction. Politicizing Energy Anthropology 1 Tristan Loloum, Simone Abram and Nathalie Ortar Chapter 1. Southern Spectrums: The Raw to the Smooth Edges of Energopower 24 Raminder Kaur Chapter 2. Ecuadorian Amazonia amidst Energy Transitions 52 Chris Hebdon Chapter 3. Nepal’s Water, the People’s Investment? Hydropolitical Volumes and Speculative Refrains 81 Austin Lord and Matthäus Rest Chapter 4. Energopolitics in Times of Climate Change: Productive and Unproductive Politics of Energy Infrastructures in Poland 109 Aleksandra Lis Chapter 5. The Earth Is Trembling and We Are Shaken: Governmentality and Resistance in the Groningen Gas Field 133 Elisabeth N. Moolenaar This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Not for resale. vi ◆ Contents Chapter 6. Delving at the Core of Everyday Life – Between Power Legacies and Political Struggles: The Case of Wood-Burning Stoves in France 156 Nathalie Ortar Afterword. People Thinking Energetically 180 Leo Coleman Index 195 This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Not for resale. Figures 1.1 Idinthikarai village next to the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu, India. 25 1.2 Wind turbines outside the nuclear power station in Kudankulam. 32 1.3 Dr S.P. Udayakumar, the main coordinator of the People’s Movement Against Nuclear Energy, 2012. 35 1.4 and 1.5 People at a solidarity cultural event in Idinthakarai in 2012. 39 1.6 Portraits of Anthony John (Manapadu), Sahayam Francis (Idinthakarai), J. Roslin (Idinthakarai) and C. Rajasekar (Kudankulam), who died due to their protests against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant. 40 2.1 The regions of Ecuador. 53 2.2 The national shield of Ecuador. 57 2.3 Estimated distribution of lands (in grey) considered relatively empty in 1982. 59 2.4 High-voltage electric lines in Ecuador in 2013, before the cambio. 64 This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Not for resale. viii ◆ Figures 3.1 Government offi cials and hydropower developers discuss future paths to 10,000 MW during the fi nal session of the Power Summit, December 2016. 83 3.2 The construction site of the Arun-3 hydropower project in Nepal, November 2019. 96 3.3 Employees from the Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower Project present a young girl from the project-affected area with a receipt for the shares that her mother purchased in her name – all citizens from the district of Dolakha were eligible to purchase shares, regardless of their age. Dolakha, July 2018. 101 This open access edition has been made available under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license thanks to the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Not for resale. Acknowledgements The editors would particularly like to thank the participants in the Energy Anthropology Network (EAN).