Energy Resources: Europe and Its Former Colonies
Energy Resources: Europe and Its Former Colonies"
Munich, Germany
October 3 -4, 2012
The Center for Public History (CPH) in CLASS collaborated with the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society at Ludwig Maximillians University in Munich, Germany to sponsor “Energy Resources: Europe and Its Former Colonies,” October 3-4, 2012. The successful workshop convened at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, which is regarded as the premier museum of technology in the world.
The purpose of the 2012 workshop was to bring together several presenters to discuss historical perspectives on the relationship between European nations and their former colonies with respect to: the exploitation of energy resources, European influences on the development of energy industries in the former colonies, the environmental implications of energy resource development, questions of technology transfer and the transformation of knowledge vis-a-vis energy development, and the postcolonial dimensions of energy resources in a global perspective.
Helmuth Trischler, head of research at the Deutsches Museum and co-director of the Rachel Carson Center, and Martin Melosi, director of CPH and professor of history at UH, served as conveners of the workshop. In attendance were scholars from Germany, Italy, England, Norway, Russia, Nigeria, Canada, and the United States. Energy Management and Policy Group (EMAP) director and history and management professor at UH, Joseph Pratt, chaired a session on “Oil in Africa.” UH history professor Kairn Klieman delivered a paper entitled “US and European Oil Companies in Africa, 1920s-1960s: Competition, Collaboration, and the Creation of an African ‘Oil Culture.’” Other presentations featured oil issues including an analysis of oil history in Azerbaijin and energy resource development in Africa. The workshop, however, was rich in topic diversity with papers on hydropower (Greenland and Austria), the impacts of coal production (the United States, Great Britain, and Nigeria), the effects of the 1973 ‘Oil Shock’ and issues of energy importing in Europe, greening energy resources (Canada and Africa), the relationship of energy to climate change. Brian Black from Penn State University delivered a keynote address on “Global Crude: Organizing International Petroleum Development, 1900-1930.” The range of topics made for lively discussion at the workshop, and opened the way for more scholarly interactions among the group of energy history specialists.
The meeting follows the successful workshop, “Energy Capitals: Local Impact, Global Influence,” held in May, 2010, at the University of Houston, and funded by CPH and the National Science Foundation (http://www.history.uh.edu/energycaps/). The purpose of that event was to explore how energy-led development transformed a number of economies in cities across the world, driving infrastructure improvements, shaping labor markets, and influencing educational institutions. These "energy capitals," which include Houston, also faced clear challenges in terms of environmental quality and public health. A volume entitled Energy Capitals: Local Influence, Global Impact, which includes many of the presentations from the workshop and new entries, is forthcoming with the University of Pittsburgh Press. Pratt, Melosi, and Kathleen Brosnan are co-editors.
Among the purposes of the workshops is to promote the further development of the field of energy history and to place the University of Houston at the center of efforts to bring attention to key energy and environmental issues facing the world community through detailed and analytical reflections on the past. CPH and EMAP are engaged in related activities, such as developing an energy and sustainability minor, training PhD students in the sub-discipline of energy/environmental history, conducting on-going research in the topical area, and developing additional workshops and symposia.