Energy and domination: contesting the fossil myth of fuel expansion

ABSTRACT

A just and sustainable energy transition will require not only new fuels, but new energy stories. The dominant, ‘fossil’ myth of energy, depoliticizes the forward march of energy intensity over human history. Instead, we need energy stories that more fully account for the role of political domination in major energy transitions of the past. Fossil domination is historically unique in its marriage of racial capitalism and imperialism, but it may also reflect broader patterns of fuel transition. I draw upon recent research on two momentous energy transitions – the rise of grain states and fossil fuel empires – that show how political innovations in labor extraction and domination were the main catalysts for transition, rather than superior fuel technologies or a public thirst for more energy. Emphasizing the role of domination across energy history disrupts the fossil myth, while also making space for more transformative energy stories.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable transition
• energy politics
• energy history
• fossil fuels
• energy humanities
• climate justice

Acknowledgments

This article benefited from the attentive feedback of the Political Economy Working Group in the Department of Political Science at Virginia Tech, which included: Mauro Caraccioli, François Debrix, Deborah Milly, Scott Nelson, Desirée Poets, Besnik Pula, Andy Scerri, and Edward Weisband. I would also like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the Editor for their valuable suggestions on earlier drafts, which helped refine the arguments presented here.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).