The research group "Energy Entanglements" investigates energies as polyfunctional fuels of cultural, political, social and economic development. At the center of our interest are debates around the extraction, circulation and use of energies, which are associated with profound transformations of environments, social structures and cultural policies. We examine both the challenges posed by these transformations and the approaches to overcoming them, with a specific focus on Eastern Europe and a comparative analysis of neighboring regions. Despite the immense importance of Eastern Europe as an area of energy production and energy transfer, but also as a trigger and arena of escalating energy conflicts, the region has so far played a marginal role in the energy humanities.

The research group takes up these virulent debates, but sets new priorities that develop from three interlinked key questions. Firstly, we investigate competing narratives: which terms, topoi and concepts shape energy discourses? Secondly, we examine spatial orders: how do the extraction and circulation of energy and the (re)organization of resource spaces intertwine? Thirdly, we look at the actors: in which formal and informal networks do human and non-human actors shape energy environments? These complex questions can only be adequately addressed in an interdisciplinary context. In the research group, literary and cultural studies, political science, history, sociology and economics are therefore collaborating closely to establish a new research paradigm for Energy Humanities East.

In this joint project funded by the German Research Foundation, researchers from Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, the Centre Marc Bloch, and the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research collaborate.