Elizabeth Chatterjee
Elizabeth Chatterjee
Assistant Professor of Environmental History and the College
University of Chicago
Research Project
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South
Project Team:
2022 – 2023
Oil slicks from leaks in the various oil production and storage platforms located on Lake Maracaibo, in Venezuela, June 11, 2003. Courtesy NASA Earth Observatory.
Key Question
How do developing nations balance economic growth and ecological harm, and what paths may lead to a post-fossil future?
Project Summary
This project will offer fresh analysis of the dynamics of “fossil capital” by shifting the frame away from large industrial economies and toward the economic trajectories and energy systems of postcolonial societies in the Global South. Scholars from the University and Visiting Fellows from around the world – historians and anthropologists as well as literary critics and philosophers – will collaborate to offer new frameworks of interpretation.
What is the relationship between capitalism and fossil fuels? So far the leading answers to this hotly debated question have claimed as universal the experiences of rich former imperial powers. This project instead centers the economic trajectories and energy systems of postcolonial societies in the Global South. The research team and visiting speakers will range across the planet – from the Americas to India, the Middle East to East Asia – to explore fossil capitalism on different scales, from the operations of national oil companies and multinational energy corporations to the racial violence that fractures labor mobilizations on and under the ground. Such cases promise to clarify the relations between carbon energy and socioeconomic power. Here, they detail the long histories of (neo)colonial extractivism that shape contemporary geopolitical relations and antagonisms. At the same time, they foreground the challenges and dilemmas posed by the twin revolutions of decolonization and democratization. This reframing of fossil capitalism raises new questions about the relationship between state sovereignty, popular expectations, and the hierarchical structures that underpin the international energy order. In the Global South, the dilemma of balancing economic development against ecological harm is posed with existential sharpness in a moment of accelerated climate catastrophe. Drawing together insights from history, anthropology, energy humanities, and political ecology, this project will trace new accounts of the forces holding the fossil economy in place. Moreover, it will reveal alternative paths and nodes of resistance to offer innovative visions of post-fossil futures.
Research Team
Project Narrative
Carousel with 3 slides shown at a time. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate, or the slide dot buttons at the end to jump to slides.
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South: A Symposium
Symposium
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South: A Symposium
This symposium placed the frameworks of “fossil capitalism” and “Global South” under empirical and conceptual scrutiny.
Self-Sustaining/Self-Devouring Growth
Lecture
Self-Sustaining/Self-Devouring Growth
At this lecture, Jennifer Wenzel looked at the relationship between slowness and speed in the history of fossil-fueled mobility.
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group: Jennifer Wenzel
Discussion
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group: Jennifer Wenzel
Participants at this reading group discussed a selection of readings in preparation for a lecture by Jennifer Wenzel.
Missionaries of Light and Progress: Engineers and Technological Pilgrims in Crafting Mexico’s Necaxa, 1890–1914
Lecture
Missionaries of Light and Progress: Engineers and Technological Pilgrims in Crafting Mexico’s Necaxa, 1890–1914
At this lecture, Diana J. Montaño discussed the "technological pilgrims" who crafted Mexico’s hydropower imaginary.
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group: Diana Montaño
Discussion
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group: Diana Montaño
Participants at this reading group discussed a selection of readings by Diana Montaño, including the introduction to her book Electrifying Mexico.
Victoria Saramago Receives NEH Fellowship
Victoria Saramago Receives NEH Fellowship
Victoria Saramago has received a $60,000 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to pursue her research connecting electrical energy and culture production in Brazilian literature ...
Global Souths / Native Norths
Discussion
Global Souths / Native Norths
Participants at this roundtable traced connections between histories of energy extraction and ecological transformation on different frontiers.
The Licit Life of Capitalism
Lecture
The Licit Life of Capitalism
At this lecture, Hannah Appel (UCLA) discussed her acclaimed ethnography about the oil economy of Equatorial Guinea, The Licit Life of Capitalism.
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group
Discussion
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group
This group discussed a selection of readings ahead of a guest lecture by Hannah Appel (Associate Professor of Anthropology at UCLA) on Oct 28.
Theorizing Fossil Capital from the Global South
Discussion
Theorizing Fossil Capital from the Global South
A roundtable with Elizabeth Chatterjee (History), Ryan Jobson (Anthropology), and Victoria Saramago (Romance Languages and Literatures)
Carousel with 3 slides shown at a time. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate, or the slide dot buttons at the end to jump to slides.
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South: A Symposium
Symposium
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South: A Symposium
This symposium placed the frameworks of “fossil capitalism” and “Global South” under empirical and conceptual scrutiny.
Carousel with 3 slides shown at a time. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate, or the slide dot buttons at the end to jump to slides.
Self-Sustaining/Self-Devouring Growth
Lecture
Self-Sustaining/Self-Devouring Growth
At this lecture, Jennifer Wenzel looked at the relationship between slowness and speed in the history of fossil-fueled mobility.
Missionaries of Light and Progress: Engineers and Technological Pilgrims in Crafting Mexico’s Necaxa, 1890–1914
Lecture
Missionaries of Light and Progress: Engineers and Technological Pilgrims in Crafting Mexico’s Necaxa, 1890–1914
At this lecture, Diana J. Montaño discussed the "technological pilgrims" who crafted Mexico’s hydropower imaginary.
The Licit Life of Capitalism
Lecture
The Licit Life of Capitalism
At this lecture, Hannah Appel (UCLA) discussed her acclaimed ethnography about the oil economy of Equatorial Guinea, The Licit Life of Capitalism.
Carousel with 3 slides shown at a time. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate, or the slide dot buttons at the end to jump to slides.
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group: Jennifer Wenzel
Discussion
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group: Jennifer Wenzel
Participants at this reading group discussed a selection of readings in preparation for a lecture by Jennifer Wenzel.
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group: Diana Montaño
Discussion
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group: Diana Montaño
Participants at this reading group discussed a selection of readings by Diana Montaño, including the introduction to her book Electrifying Mexico.
Global Souths / Native Norths
Discussion
Global Souths / Native Norths
Participants at this roundtable traced connections between histories of energy extraction and ecological transformation on different frontiers.
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group
Discussion
Fossil Capitalism in the Global South Reading Group
This group discussed a selection of readings ahead of a guest lecture by Hannah Appel (Associate Professor of Anthropology at UCLA) on Oct 28.
Theorizing Fossil Capital from the Global South
Discussion
Theorizing Fossil Capital from the Global South
A roundtable with Elizabeth Chatterjee (History), Ryan Jobson (Anthropology), and Victoria Saramago (Romance Languages and Literatures)
Carousel with 3 slides shown at a time. Use the Previous and Next buttons to navigate, or the slide dot buttons at the end to jump to slides.
Victoria Saramago Receives NEH Fellowship
Victoria Saramago Receives NEH Fellowship
Victoria Saramago has received a $60,000 Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to pursue her research connecting electrical energy and culture production in Brazilian literature ...
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