Contemporary life is founded on oil – a cheap, accessible, and rich source of energy that has shaped cities and manufacturing economies at the same time that it has increased mobility, global trade, and environmental devastation. Despite oil’s essential role, full recognition of its social and cultural significance has only become a prominent feature of everyday debate and discussion in the early twenty-first century. Presenting a multifaceted analysis of the cultural, social, and political claims and assumptions that guide how we think and talk about oil, Petrocultures maps the complex and often contradictory ways in which oil has influenced the public’s imagination around the world. This collection of essays shows that oil’s vast network of social and historical narratives and the processes that enable its extraction are what characterize its importance, and that its circulation through this immense web of relations forms worldwide experiences and expectations. Contributors’ essays investigate the discourses surrounding oil in contemporary culture while advancing and configuring new ways to discuss the cultural ecosystem that it has created. A window into the social role of oil, Petrocultures also contemplates what it would mean if human life were no longer deeply shaped by the consumption of fossil fuels.

Sheena Wilson, PhD., is a professor of literature, culture and writing studies at Campus Saint-Jean, University of Alberta.

Sheena Wilson's profile page

Adam Carlson is a PhD candidate in English and film studies at the University of Alberta.

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Imre Szeman holds the Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta and is the cofounder of the Petrocultures Research Group. He is the coauthor of After Oil and the coeditor of The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism.

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“This comprehensive collection opens the lid on a barrel of oil and analyzes it from nearly every angle possible: as an infrastructural network, a complicated material substance, an aesthetic, and a philosophical problem. A valuable text featuring the best from the burgeoning field of the energy humanities.” Matthew T Huber, Maxwell School of Syracuse University

"Offering a diverse collection of historical, geographical, and literary scholarship, Petrocultures expands the reach of the Energy Humanities and helps to solidify Canadian leadership in this interdisciplinary venture. The collection represents a major contribution to research on the cultural dimensions of the extractive economies of fossil fuel." Stephanie LeMenager, University of Oregon

"Today, oil is everywhere. Yet, we will have to start leaving more of it in the ground if we are going to do what is right for ourselves, our futures, and our environments. Petrocultures helps to make visible how oil has shaped our lives, economies, and cultures, and it also presents visions of alternatives that would transition us away from the burning of fossil fuels. It is an invaluable collection, and it is a welcome extension of the ongoing conversation about how to understand and reshape our energy cultures." Daniel Worden, Rochester Institute of Technology, coeditor of Oil Culture

"This interdisciplinary collection of papers includes diverse styles of argumentation: cultural studies, including the visual arts (e.g., Burtynsky’s photography and films); pulp fiction; poetry; a radio play; song lyrics; children’s videos; and literary criticism and social science analysis. A valuable introduction to the new field of energy humanities." CHOICE