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
Rights
Copyright © 2016 The Institute for Ethnographic Research. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the author created, accepted version manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1353/anq.2017.0006
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