Paper short abstract:

This paper looks at theoretical influences in approaching two contrasting energy problems in highland Nepal and northern England, and finds common strategies for making energy an innovative field for the discipline

Paper long abstract:

Recognisably anthropological theorisations of energy are now coming on stream with remarkable rapidity. This paper looks at theoretical influences in approaching two contrasting energy problems, and finds common strategies for making energy an innovative field for the discipline. The principal route lies in enquiry into humanising perspectives on power inequalities in energy discourse, and in making energy at home in comparative research. Emergent anthropological approaches in dialogue with theories of socio-technical transition and cultural theory of risk will be examined in relation to ethnographic contexts of renewable energy innovation in Nepal, and post-industrial agro-ecology in the north of England. In both cases the energy problematic is used to map relational power complexes and role of personhood and practice approaches in emerging governance institutions that mark on-going social appropriations of energy 'nexus' flows into normative sustainability projects.