https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1914-7251
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ABSTRACT
In this article, we study forms of storytelling about energy sovereignty retrieved from community-based art and their implications for energy justice formulations in Latin America. Based on the visual and discursive analysis of five contemporary Latin American artistic practices, the article shows that their poetic and political engagements with energy production, consumption, and distribution build what we call “energy sovereignty storytelling.” That is, understandings of energy justice that territorialize energy technologies, thus defying Western-centered views on energy and energy infrastructure in a context of marked transitions. Combining insights from art analysis in STS with concepts from energy humanities and technological sovereignty studies, this research discusses four aspects that characterize these emergent energy storytelling practices. By bringing these four aspects together, this study shows that territory-attuned, community-based art research highlights understandings of energy beyond corporate extractivism and market interests. In this way, activating new modes of storytelling in relation to energy affords novel understandings of energy and energy infrastructure that can contribute to attaining a just and equitable energy transition in Latin America, where ancestral and local more-than-human communities can participate actively in shaping energy presents and futures.
RESUMO
Neste artigo, estudamos formas de contar histórias sobre soberania energética recuperadas por meio da arte baseada na comunidade e suas implicações para a formulação de justiça energética na América Latina. Com base na análise visual e discursiva de cinco práticas artísticas latino-americanas contemporâneas, o artigo mostra que seus engajamentos poéticos e políticos com a produção, consumo e distribuição de energia constroem o que chamamos de “narrativas de soberania energética.” Ou seja, entendimentos de justiça energética que territorializam as tecnologias, desafiando assim visões centradas no Ocidente sobre energia e infraestrutura em um contexto de transições marcantes. Combinando insights da análise de arte advindos dos estudos CTS com conceitos das humanidades energéticas e estudos de soberania tecnológica, esta investigação discute quatro aspectos que caracterizam essas práticas emergentes de narrativa sobre a energia. Ao reunir esses quatro aspectos, este estudo mostra que a pesquisa sobre arte baseada na comunidade e sintonizada com o território destaca entendimentos de energia além do extrativismo corporativo e dos interesses de mercado. Dessa forma, ativar novos modos de contar histórias em relação à energia permite novos entendimentos sobre energia e infraestrutura que podem contribuir para alcançar uma transição energética justa e equitativa na América Latina, onde comunidades ancestrais e locais mais-que-humanos podem participar ativamente moldando presentes e futuros energéticos.
RESUMEN
En este artículo estudiamos formas de narración sobre la soberanía energética recuperadas del arte comunitario y sus implicaciones para las formulaciones de justicia energética en América Latina. Partiendo del análisis visual y discursivo de cinco prácticas artísticas latinoamericanas contemporáneas, el artículo muestra que sus compromisos poéticos y políticos con la producción, el consumo y la distribución de energía construyen lo que llamamos “narraciones de la soberanía energética.” Es decir, comprensiones de justicia energética que territorializan las tecnologías energéticas, desafiando así las visiones centradas en Occidente sobre la energía y la infraestructura energética en un contexto de marcadas transiciones. Combinando conocimientos del análisis del arte en STS con conceptos de humanidades energéticas y estudios de soberanía tecnológica, esta investigación analiza cuatro aspectos que caracterizan estas prácticas emergentes de creación artística sobre la energía. Al reunir estos cuatro aspectos, este estudio muestra que la investigación artística basada en la comunidad y en sintonía con el territorio destaca la comprensión de la energía más allá del extractivismo corporativo y los intereses del mercado. De esta manera, activar nuevos modos de narración en relación con la energía permite comprensiones novedosas sobre la energía y la infraestructura energética que pueden contribuir a lograr una transición energética más justa y equitativa en América Latina, donde las comunidades más-que-humanas ancestrales y locales puedan participar activamente dando forma a los presentes y futuros energéticos.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Western notions of technology – prevalent in discussions around global energetic transitions – tend to overlook the perspectives and values of communities, particularly rural ones, which possess unique knowledge systems (epistemologies) and ways of relating to the world (ontologies). In this context, activists and scholars have argued that technological autonomy is crucial for these communities to survive, remain in their territories, and take action to strengthen decision-making and energy sovereignty at the community level. This approach also challenges the “technological versus primitive” dichotomy, thus proposing an enriched understanding of how communities interact with their technical instruments, particularly in the context of energy.
2 We understand Solarpunk as an aesthetics of hope, which resists the daily despair generated by ecological destruction. As a movement, it may be considered a counter-cultural rebellion to supplement culturally pessimistic visions of how the future may unfold in view of the increasing catastrophism in public cultural discourses.
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Notes on contributors
Azucena Castro
Azucena Castro is a Swedish Research Council Postdoctoral fellow at Stockholm Resilience Center, Stockholm University, and a Visiting Postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Iberian and Latin American Cultures at Stanford University, where she co-coordinates the Focal Group “materia.” She obtained her PhD in Spanish with a dissertation in Latin American environmental humanities and literary studies at the University of Stockholm. She completed an appointment as Postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Geography, University of Buenos Aires, working with the “Nature, Culture, Territory” Study Group. Her research focuses on environmental and energy humanities, cultural studies, and art research in Latin America and the Caribbean. She is the editor of Futuros multiespecie. Prácticas vinculantes para un planeta en emergencia (Bartlebooth, 2023).
Alejandro Ponce de León
Alejandro Ponce de León is a Colombian editor and researcher. He is the founding editor of the Plataforma Latinoamericana de Humanidades Ambientales, an online editorial collective that promotes dialogues on environmental thought, arts, and education throughout the Americas. His work stands at the intersection of environmental humanities and technoscience studies and has been published in Cultural Studies, Journal of Latin American Cultural Studies, ASAP/J, Humanidades: Revista de la Universidad de Montevideo, Revista Tabula Rasa, Revista Endémico, Diffractions, Tapuya, and Sociological Forum, among others. Alejandro holds a Master's degree in Sociology from the University of Texas at Austin, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Cultural Studies at the University of California, Davis.
Ana Laura Cantera
Ana Laura Cantera is a transmedia artist based in Buenos Aires. She is currently a PhD candidate in Arts and Techno-Aesthetics at Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF) where she graduated with a Master's degree in Electronic Arts. In her artistic productions she works with the concepts of natures, territories, and horizontal entanglements with non-human organisms from decolonial perspectives. She is the Director of the Research and Development Group in Biopoetics and New Materials at the Electronic Arts and Artificial Intelligence Lab, where she specializes in grown designs from mushroom mycelium and 3D biomaterial printing. She teaches in the Master's in Technology and Aesthetics of Electronic Arts at UNTREF and in the Specialization Sociology of Design at Universidad de Buenos Aires.
Veronica Olofsson
Veronica Olofsson currently holds a position as Research Assistant at the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University. She has a Bachelor's Degree in Political Science and a Master's Degree in Latin American Studies, both from Stockholm University. Veronica works with social network analysis and unfolding power imbalances through collaborative methods. She has previously worked with examining the social aspects of energy transitions, with a particular emphasis on civil society perspectives; decolonial approaches as well as incorporation of Indigenous and local knowledge systems and values for a more inclusive definition of sustainability and sustainable development.
Juan David Reina-Rozo
Juan David Reina Rozo is a Researcher of the Research Group on “Technologies and Innovation for Community Development” at the National University of Colombia. He is a former Scientific Advisor of the Institute of Hydrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM). He is interested in the relationship between technology - society - environment, with field work experiences in Colombia, Peru, Brazil, Uganda, and Nepal. He has done creative residencies at MediaLab Prado in Madrid, Spain, and Radicante in Magallanes, Chile. He has participated in initiatives of Rural Laboratories in the territory of Sumapaz and Gualivá in Cundinamarca, central Colombia. Finally, he develops Research-Creation processes from the interaction Art, Science and Technology in a collaborative way with rural communities in the Caribbean and Pacific coast of Colombia.