Università Roma Tre

We will explore the origins of the advent of fossil fuels with the emergence of the age of coal, the shift to hydrocarbons, and the most recent trends towards alternative and renewable energy sources and "peak demand" for oil. This will be done by analysing great power politics, political and economic debates on energy, the expansion of Fordism and consumerism, the role of multinational oil companies, the pressures for decolonization and the emergence of the environmentalist debate from the 1970s up to the more recent debate on the "Anthropocene".
Questions and concepts such as “resource curse”, “conservationism”, “Dutch disease”, “limits of growth”, "peak oil", "sustainable development", "extractivism", will be discussed and informed by relevant literature (and possibly archival material), images and documentaries.

This course is taught in English.

For each student:
- Bruce Pobodnik, "Global Energy Shifts. Fostering Sustainability in a Turbulent Age" (the complete book)

For "non frequentanti" (in addition to Pobodnik):
- Leonardo Maugeri, "The Age of Oil: The Mythology, History, and Future of the World's Most Controversial Resources" (the complete book)

For 8 credits (in addition to Pobonik):
- A choice of one text among the reference books