Energy talk, temporality, and belonging in austerity Greece
Abstract
Dramatic changes in the energy landscape provide a lens through which to understand local perceptions of temporality, modernity, and belonging in austerity Greece. Re-launched in 2011, the European Union supported solar energy initiative encourages installation of futuristic, high-tech photovoltaic panels on fertile agricultural land. However, winter 2012-13 and 2013-14 witnessed a return en-masse to open-fires and wood-burning stoves as a means for people to heat their homes, something locals associate with material poverty, pre-modernity, and pre-Europeanization. Drawing on ethnographic research in the town of Trikala, central Greece, this article demonstrates how “energy talk” provides a prism through which locals discuss the past, the future, increasing poverty and reassess their belonging in a modern Europe.
Citation
Knight , D M 2017 , ' Energy talk, temporality, and belonging in austerity Greece ' , Anthropological Quarterly , vol. 90 , no. 1 , pp. 167-191 . https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2017.0006
Publication
Anthropological Quarterly
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0003-5491Type
Journal article
Collections
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