What kinds of expertise and knowledge relate to electricity, and where is the space for alternative voices? How can the new roles for electricity in social and cultural life be acknowledged? How can we speak about 'it' in its own right while acknowledging that electricity is not one thing? This book re-describes electricity and its infrastructures using insights from anthropology and science and technology studies, raising fascinating questions about the contemporary world and its future. Through ethnographic studies of bulbs, bicycles, dams, power grids and much more, the contributors shed light on practices that are often overlooked, showing how electricity is enacted in multiple ways. Electrifying Anthropology moves beyond the idea of electricity as an immovable force, and instead offers a set of potential trajectories for thinking about electricity and its effects in contemporary society. With new contributions on an emerging area of research, this timely collection will be of value to students and scholars of anthropology, science and technology studies, geography and engineering.

Author: Simone Abram
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 06/27/2019
Pages: 224
Weight: 1.1lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.20w x 0.70d
ISBN: 9781350102644

About the Author
Simone Abram is Professor of Anthropology, Durham University, UK. She has an MEng in electrical engineering. Brit Ross Winthereik is Professor of Science and Technology Studies, IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark. Thomas Yarrow is Associate Professor of Anthropology, Durham University, UK.