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Social Science General

Petrocultures

Oil, Politics, Culture

edited by Sheena Wilson, Adam Carlson & Imre Szeman

Publisher
McGill-Queen's University Press
Initial publish date
Jun 2017
Category
General
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780773550384
    Publish Date
    Jun 2017
    List Price
    $45.95
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780773550377
    Publish Date
    Jun 2017
    List Price
    $160.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780773550407
    Publish Date
    Jun 2017
    List Price
    $34.95

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Description

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.

About the authors

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.

Adam Carlson's profile page

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.

Imre Szeman's profile page

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