Currently preparing a course on energy and literature. I will teach the course “Energy and  literature – An Introduction to the Energy Humanities” this spring of 2023 at Tampere University.

I’m obviously looking forward to the course, but also very conscious of my own ongoing learning processes, involving a lot of soul-searching about the possibilities and limitations of literary studies and the humanities: what can we expect to achieve in our fields of studies, what kinds of questions can be answered, what kinds of methods are necessary or possible?

Very much interested in learning more from others, so if you have suggestions for readings, do get in touch at lieven.ameel [a] tuni.fi. I’m particularly looking for relevant sources and texts from the 18th and 19th century. There’s a huge amount of research carried out in contemporary (20th and 21st c) anglophone contexts, but I feel I can learn a lot also from non-English European sources and scholarship (Central European, Eastern European etc.). All suggestions welcome. The dimension of indigenous studies is obviously of particular importance for studies of energy cultures, and I’m looking for more resources on sami perspectives and thoughts on activism in the context of Nordic energy humanities.

I will link to other energy humanities syllabi in my own course material so students can get a sense of how other similar courses have been structured, do feel free to get in touch if you’re working on a similar course or if you have a syllabus you would like to share.

I’ll post the provisional course outline and reading material in a separate post later this month.

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Oil_Rig_-_panoramio_(1).jpg