Description
Energy colonialism is an essential, yet scarcely theorized concept for understanding how past, present and future energy systems are shaped by imperial and neocolonial imaginaries and practices. Energy coloniality becomes manifest as power over energy transition processes, as an epistemic force with regard to knowledge orders and knowledge transfer, and as a coloniality of being with regard to livelihood and energy poverty. Facing climate crisis and the rise of green capitalism, energy colonialism may serve as a concept that offers new analytical perspectives to understand, criticize and connect apparently unrelated phenomena such as green financialisation, land conflicts over solar and wind park sites, hydrogen geopolitics or energy extractivism. However, debates on energy colonialism are still scattered and a systemic overview is lacking. This paper hence seeks to recapture current debates on energy colonialism, with the aim of carving out typical claims, blind spots and challenge, and creating a research agenda.
