Presentation short abstract

This paper traces articulations between deindustrialization and decarbonization in Sulcis, Sardinia. It reworks the notion of the semi-periphery in the context of an uneven and combined green development arguing that it looks less like a transition than another shift in the seesaw of capital.

Presentation long abstract

This paper traces articulations between deindustrialization and decarbonization in the Sulcis region of south-western Sardinia. Since the end of the second World War, multiple waves of deindustrialization have left Sulcis with some of the highest youth unemployment rates and the lowest per capita income of the country. Today, the area sits at the very frontline of the energy transition: On the one hand, the area has a long history of metal and coal mining and represents and heavy-industry exception to the otherwise service-oriented economy of the Sardinian Island. On the other hand, Sulcis is currently experiencing a massive and increasingly contested international interest in “green” energy projects. Based on a combination of ethnographic fieldwork and historical material, the paper explores how the intertwined legacies of industrial reorganisation, labour mobilization, and environmental degradation inform the current, contentious politics of energy transition. Conceptually, the paper reworks and revitalizes the notion of the semi-periphery in the context of an uneven and combined green development regime – paying particular attention shifts in labour regimes and the conditions of social reproduction. Building analytically on local experiences, as well as institutional and material legacies, I ultimately argue that the current conjuncture looks less like a transition and more like another shift in the seesaw of capital.