The ‘Dingpolitik’ of Wind Energy in Northern German Landscapes: An Ethnographic Case Study

Abstract

Germany has assumed a leading position in the global wind energy market, with its coastal districts of North Frisia and Dithmarschen as two outstanding locations. These coastal landscapes are the outcome of interaction between human and non-human forces throughout the centuries, and they are characterized by the wind, the tides and the sea as well as the building of dikes, technological innovations and the interplay of regional, national and trans-national forces. Against this background, the short but complex transition from a mainly agricultural landscape into a wind energy landscape is interpreted here following Latour's (2005b) concept of a Dingpolitik (politics of things) and complementary assumptions suggested by the European Landscape Convention. I will argue that the rise of wind energy in Northern Germany is not only the result of top-down governance strategies, but of a collective effort based on the dynamics of the collective of people and things that make up these landscapes. Based on ethnographic examples, this article analyses the emergence of wind energy landscapes in Northern Germany from the first implementation of wind turbines to civic wind parks as a form of social practice.

Key Words:

• Wind energy
• Germany
• Dingpolitik
• anthropology of landscape
• European Landscape Convention

Notes

1. Available at http://www.petersloterdijk.net/ (accessed 6 June 2009).

2. See also George Marcus (1998) Through Thick and Thin, whose “multi-sited ethnography” pursues a similar approach.

3. See Krauss (2006).

4. Fabian (1983) calls this mechanism for producing unequal power relations “allo-chronism”. See also Heatherington (2001).

5. When not otherwise indicated, the following remarks on the history of wind energy are based on Schlegel (2005). See also http://www.wind-energie.de/

6. The following data are taken from the official website for the district of North Frisia, available at http://www.nordfriesland.de/index.phtml?La=1&NavID=29.44 (accessed 6 June 2009).

7. In this expression, windmills are metaphorically compared to asparagus; Verspargelung thus means ‘asparagusization’.

8. ‘Growian’, an acronym standing for ‘big wind power station’ (Große Windkraftanlage), sounds like the German word for ‘ruffian’ (Grobian).

9. ‘Koog’ means ‘polder’; Kaiser-Wilhelm-Koog is the name of the community.

10. By Frank Zabel in: Kieler Nachrichten (no date), available at http://www.kn-online.de/news/print/2238655 (accessed 6 June 2009).

11. 29 March 2006, Der Spiegel, ‘Der Windmühlenwahn. Vom Traum umweltfreundlicher Energien zur hochverschuldeten Landschaftssubventionierung’[‘Windmill Madness: From the Dream of Environmental Friendly Energy to Highly Subsidized Destruction of Landscapes’].

12. See website www.reussenkoege.de

13. The following information comes from my interviews or, where indicated, from Jensen (2005).

14. Translation by the author.

15. Bundesministerium für Forschung und Technik.

16. Kieler Nachrichten (no date).