Histories of Transitions

In this chapter of the virtual exhibition “Energy Transitions,” historian Nuno Luís Madureira argues that the study of such transitions itself has gone through changes over the course of history.

Energy Transitions

Human practices of energy consumption both transform—and are transformed by—social structures. This exhibition—written by historian Nuno Luís Madureira—introduces the concept of “energy transitions,” structural shifts in energy use and their pathways, obstacles, and consequences, challenging the view of “transitions” as the simple replacement of one energy resource by another.

by Nuno Luís Madureira

About the author

Madureira, Nuno Luís

Lisbon University Institute (ISCTE), Portugal

Nuno Luís Madureira is professor at the History Department of the Lisbon University Institute, former visiting scholar at UC Berkeley and Harvard University, and referee of the European Science Foundation. With several publications in the fields of contemporary global history, history of technology and energy and environmental policy, his last book is entitled Key Concepts in Energy (Heidelberg and New York: Springer, 2014). His most recent research embraces the analysis of historical methods and nuclear technologies, particularly the plutonium fuel cycle.

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Chemical Rubble: Historicizing Toxic Waste in a Former Mining Town in Northern Chile

by Sebastián Ureta

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Arcadia, Autumn 2016, no. 20

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Bitumen Exploration and the Southern Re-Inscription of Northeastern Alberta: 1875–1967

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Perspectives Issue 2016/4

Longley traces how geographic and cartographic knowledge of the Athabasca region, Alberta, Canada, colonized the region in the southern imagination long before the oil sands industry began extraction there. The practices of exploration, surveying, and documentation mapped the Athabasca region in terms of its rich bitumen deposits, obscuring the histories of Indigenous people. The south gained political and economic control of the region, although this process is incomplete and contested.

Groundswell Rising

This film shows how the oil and gas industries, rich with political connections, obtained a position of almost untouchable power and how at-risk communities have united to fight back.

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Silence is Gold

This film follows a court case between Canadian mining companies and author Alain Deneault following his critique of industry practices.

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Vienen Por El Oro, Vienen Por Todo [They Came For The Gold, They Came For It All]

This film follows an Argentinian town which must struggle to decide whether to allow a gold mine that could reduce poverty but also uses toxic mining methods.

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Roșia Montană

This film follows the inhabitants of an ancient Carpathian village as they resist its destruction by a Romanian-Canadian corporation, which plans to turn it into Europe’s largest mine for gold and silver.

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The Age of Aluminum [Die Akte Aluminium]

This film investigates the widespread presence of aluminium in our daily lives, and its surprising consequences for the environment, as well as our health.

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The Devil Operation

This film follows Father Marco, a priest who has earned a price on his head because of his opposition to Peru’s powerful mining companies.

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Katanga Business

This film examines a mine that acts as a microcosm for globalization; illegal and legal workers, local and foreign businessmen, and politicians all navigate the new alliances that modern Africa demands.

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