Professor Simone Abram simone.abram@durham.ac.uk
Executive Director
Electricity as a Field for Anthropological Theorising and Research
Abram, Simone
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 |
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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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