Format/Structure

We expect to host a conventional panel with 4 papers, followed by discussion. We also request 2-3 sessions given the global scope of the panel.

Long Abstract

Coal-producing countries find themselves under the spotlight to transition away from this damaging fossil fuel given the urgency of climate action. Historical positioning apart, coal geographies face remarkably similar challenges across the great global North-South divide, where any transition is in an indeterminate, liminal condition typically resisted by hegemonic forces. Despite multiple recent studies on the dark side of the energy transition, research shows that what we are witnessing now is not an energy transition but the addition of more energy. With only a few exceptions, coal extraction is continuing apace, with remarkable levels of state support extended to the industry, followed by lengthy and confusing timespans of dispossession.

This panel has two principal objectives.

One, it probes into the essential and interlocking features of ‘coal worlds’ (Lahiri-Dutt, 2016) across global geographies to interrogate the liminal nature of transitions, past, present, or future.

Two, it casts a spotlight on what sustains the hegemony of coal in spite of official rhetoric typically favouring transition. On one hand, there is the idea of fossil fascism, where right wing authoritarianism with climate denialist narratives allows for coal lock-ins.

The panel invites papers from any coal geography (north or south). It adopts a political ecology approach that rejects the divorcing of energy transitions from ongoing power struggles and political reconfigurations etched in space and multi-scalar in nature. We welcome papers that speak to either of the two main objectives of this panel.

This Panel has 7 pending paper proposals.
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