At the inaugural meeting of this reading group, participants discussed a selection of readings ahead of the guest lecture by Hannah Appel (Associate Professor of Anthropology at UCLA) on October 28. Readings included the introduction and first chapter of Appel’s first book, The Licit Life of Capitalism: U.S. Oil in Equatorial Guinea (Duke University Press, 2019), and James Ferguson’s essay “Seeing Like an Oil Company.”

The reading group convened once per quarter as a space of dialogue and collaboration as we expanded our community of energy scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Interested students, faculty, and staff were encouraged to contact collegium@uchicago.edu.

This event was organized by the Fossil Capitalism in the Global South research project.