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Electricity as a Field for Anthropological Theorising and Research

Abram, Simone

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Authors



Contributors

Maja Hojer Bruun
Editor

Ayo Wahlberg
Editor

Rachel Douglas-Jones
Editor

Cathrine Hasse
Editor

Klaus Hoeyer
Editor

Dorthe Brogård Kristensen
Editor

Brit Ross Winthereik
Editor

Abstract

What is electricity? Is it a natural force, a technology, or an infrastructural system? Is electricity a flow of electrons or an electromagnetic effect? Is it a liberating power or a silent killer? Is it even a thing that can be grasped? However we describe it, analyse it, or imagine it, electricity has been a defining force of modernisation for over a century, and its political, economic, and technical tentacles demand holistic, historiographic, and ethnographic attention. This chapter tracks the elusive nature of electricity through a myriad of incarnations, to glimpse the material effects and theoretical challenges posed by electricity. It looks at the ways that electricity has been conceptualised, materialised, and instrumentalised, by reviewing its ability to connect and disconnect things, people, and places. The particular kinds of relations that electricity generates provoke new questions about the concepts of relationality that have been discussed in recent anthropological debates.

Citation

Abram, S. (2022). Electricity as a Field for Anthropological Theorising and Research. In M. H. Bruun, A. Wahlberg, R. Douglas-Jones, C. Hasse, K. Hoeyer, D. B. Kristensen, & B. R. Winthereik (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of the Anthropology of Technology (741-755). (1). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7084-8_38

Acceptance Date Jan 28, 2021
Online Publication Date Mar 24, 2022
Publication Date 2022
Deposit Date Feb 26, 2021
Publicly Available Date Mar 25, 2024
Publisher Palgrave Macmillan
Pages 741-755
Edition 1
Book Title The Palgrave Handbook of the Anthropology of Technology
ISBN 978-981-16-7083-1
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7084-8_38
Public URL https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1625933

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Copyright Statement
Abram, Simone, Electricity as a Field for Anthropological Theorising and Research, Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore, reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan. This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published, version of record is available here: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7084-8_38





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