Presentation short abstract

Exploring the diversity of the energy transition, our ethnographic work in Brazil's Northeast shows how the dominant sociotechnical imaginary overlooks local territorial aspirations. Yet, through their practices, rural communities present an alternative imaginary based on distributed energy systems.

Presentation long abstract

The energy transition is a powerful sociotechnical imaginary that envisions prosperous and sustainable futures achieved through decarbonized technologies. While science and technology studies have largely focused on expert and policy discourses to identify and discuss dominant and alternative imaginaries, our study examines their practices and material implications to show how these imaginaries can be contested and reformulated. Drawing on ethnographic research in the Serra da Ibiapaba, a region with exceptional solar and wind resources in the Brazilian state of Ceará, we first demonstrate that the dominant imaginary overlooks the materiality of the energy transition. Although the development of corporate-owned wind energy necessarily requires a reconfiguration of land access, this is treated as only a secondary concern, addressed through quick and unstable fixes. These processes generate divisions and dispossession within communities, whose own territorial aspirations are often denied in centralized projects designed to meet national and global demand for “clean” energy.

In contrast to these top-down enactments of the dominant imaginary, our ethnography also reveals an alternative imaginary emerging directly from the material concerns of rural communities. Through community-owned distributed solar power systems, smallholders and cooperatives can access cheaper energy and invest in irrigation to ensure their social and economic reproduction. However, this alternative form of energy transition remains grounded in local practices and bounded at the community level. Unbounding and dissemination are only possible through the discursive work of civil society actors who articulate a cohesive vision and engage with policy-makers to advocate for a supportive institutional environment.