During the Arab Council for the Social Sciences conference in Beirut on 15 May 2025, Benjamin Schütze discussed with Alaa Shehabi, Muzna Al-Masri, Hamza Hamouchene, Eric Verdeil, Zeina Abla, Abaher Elsaka, Dana Abi-Ghanem, Muna Dajani, and Trish Kahle about energy justice in the Arab World.
Jadaliyya has now published a detailed documentation of their discussion. The participants discussed the concept of energy justice based on their individual research and how the term can bring together engaged scholars, specialized on energy infrastructure.
Reflecting on his team's research at ABI in the framework of the Emmy-Noether-Project, Benjamin Schütze states:
"We insist on an approach that understands energy as social relations and that critiques any kind of energy determinism or the fetishization of renewables as a supposed generic solution to unemployment, climate catastrophe, and colonial continuities. Instead, we explore how different energy projects are promoted, produced and contested, to facilitate just and emancipatory or unjust, exploitative, and authoritarian practices."
The discussion was published in 3 parts, each discussing one question.
Part 1, Part 2, Part 3