Energy and Society in the Gulf

(4 Credits)

As one of the world's most energy-rich areas, the Gulf - broadly defined - is at the forefront of global energy production and consumption. This course will address the complex ways in which energy resources shape - and are shaped by - social and political structures, economic strategies, and environmental realities within the region. Through multidisciplinary texts, films, archives, and fieldwork, we will tackle these issues by focusing on five different, yet interdependent, energy sources: oil, water, food, and non-carbon fuels. Topics will include oil extraction and commercialization, carbon management, labor issues, water desalination, food security, climate change adaptations, post-oil imaginations, among others. In doing so, we will explore the gendered and racialized ways and the ongoing histories of colonialism, imperialism, and capitalism through which energy politics operate in the region today.