Project description
Brunei sets example of stability and justice
The concepts of global north and global south refer to the wealthy and economically developed countries located mostly in the northern hemisphere and the less developed countries mostly in the southern one. The global south includes important oil producers, many of whom are characterised by economic instability, environmental injustice and political violence. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Petro-Ambiguity project will investigate the distinctly different stories of oil in Brunei. The country’s oil-based economy has allowed for the preservation of its rainforest and a generous citizen welfare system. The project will introduce the concept of ‘petro-ambiguity’ in the context of the urgent and crucial need for a just energy transition for all.
Objective
Petro-Ambiguity: Oil, Environment and National Identity in the Bruneian Imaginary will uncover diverse new narratives of the Anthropocene beyond the Global North. In close collaboration with my supervisor, Prof. Sissel Furuseth, head of the Critical Petroaesthetics research group (CP) into which I will be integrated, I will investigate the stories of oil in Brunei, whose oil-based economy has allowed for the preservation of its rainforest and a generous citizen welfare system. Its story is distinct to those that currently dominate the energy humanities, characterized by economic instability, environmental injustice and political violence. Through vital training and interactions with my supervisor and CP researchers, I will develop a synthesized approach informed by material ecocriticism, scale reading and intersectionality to analyse contemporary cultural forms in the Bruneian petroculture. I will introduce petro-ambiguity as a ground-breaking concept that resists universalizing oil encounters by articulating the intra-actions between individual, socio-cultural, national and global perceptions of oil. By moving beyond the Global North, this project addresses inequities within local and global energy-climate discourses, an urgent and crucial undertaking for a just energy transition for all. This project will engage in high-impact dissemination activities to enhance understanding of sociocultural factors behind climate (in)action. Petro-Ambiguity will be bolstered by feedback from renowned energy-climate experts on my advisory board, Prof. Stephanie LeMenager (University of Oregon), Prof. Adeline Johns-Putra (Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University) and Prof. Indra Øverland (Norwegian Institute of International Affairs). The Oslo School of Environmental Humanities based at the University of Oslo will create the perfect environment as host for cutting-edge research groups on energy and environment to which Petro-Ambiguity will add an essential non-European angle.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
0313 Oslo
Norway