Simone Abram's research while affiliated with Durham University and other places

In this article we explore the inheritance of hytte , or secondary homes, in Norway. Inspired by the notion of ‘kinning’, we extend the notion of kinning to include various materialities and temporalities. In particular, we trace the passing on of the hytte ethnographically as a stretched moment, and argue that temporality adds another layer to the understanding of the hytte as a participant in kinning. Our material indicates a number of connections between the hytte as a property to be passed on and the family/kin as a reproducing unit, connections that unfold over time, decades, a lifetime or more. Through this approach, it is possible to trace processes of kinning, but also what we call ‘de-kinning’, involving detachment, refusals and rejection. The article shows that a focus on materials and built structures adds to the understanding of kinship in contemporary societies. Résumé Dans cet article, on étudiera l'héritage de la hytte ou maison secondaire en Norvège. On étendra la notion de « parenté » à l'inclusion de différentes matérialités ou temporalités. En particulier, on retracera de manière ethnographique la transmission par donation d'une hytte sur une période étendue et l'on défendra l'idée que cette temporalité longue ajoute une couche supplémentaire à la hytte comme participant pleinement au faire-parent. Notre matériel permet de souligner un certain nombre de connexions entre la hytte comme propriété à transmettre et la famille / parenté comme unité de reproduction. Ces connexions se déploient sur le temps long, des décennies et parfois des vies ou plus. Par cette approche, il est possible de retracer les processus de parenté, mais aussi de « de-parentage » impliquant détachement, refus et rejets. L'article montre qu'une attention au matériel et aux structures construites permet de comprendre la parenté dans les sociétés contemporaines.

‘Kinning and De-kinning’ introduces a special issue that considers how houses, heirlooms and other owned items reproduce kinship and family in diverse societies. It revisits death and inheritance in kinship studies, with a focus on processes of ‘passing on’ and the materiality of things as well as bodies. Incorporating temporalities and materialities in the changing expression of deeply felt emotions that extend between people and between people and things, we echo classic concerns in kinship studies around the incorporation of strangers via affinity, while mobilising the notion of house societies, bringing classic anthropological insight on intergenerational transfer of wealth to bear on questions of identity and belonging. Showing how processes of kinning are always selective and negotiated, the articles in this special issue argue that they also carry with them the potential for kinning's shadow: just as property can enable kin relations to be re/produced, they can also be used to release people from kinship through what we term ‘de-kinning’: instances of failed appropriation and disrupted kin relations. The article outlines an approach to kinship that takes seriously the enduring qualities of material and property, while maintaining the argument that kinship is achieved (or negated) through the active performance of acknowledged relations. Résumé « Faire et défaire la parenté » introduit un numéro spécial qui porte sur la manière dont les maisons, les héritages et autres objets reproduisent la parenté et la famille dans diverses sociétés. Ce volume entend revisiter les dimensions de la mort et de l'héritage dans les études de parenté en portant une attention particulière aux donations et à la matérialité des choses et des corps. Notre perspective prend en compte les temporalités et matérialités incorporées dans l'expression changeante des émotions qui passent entre les personnes, et entre les personnes et les choses. Nous faisons ainsi écho à l'intérêt classique de l'anthropologie de la parenté pour l'incorporation des étrangers via l'affinité – notamment autour de la notion de société-Maisons – et sur transfert intergénérationnel de richesse en le faisant porter sur des questions d'appartenance et d'identité. En montrant que les processus de parenté sont toujours sélectifs et négociés, cet ensemble d'articles défend l'idée que ces processus portent aussi en eux l'inverse de ce qu'on pense qu'ils font : de même que la propriété permet aux relations de parenté de se re/produire, elle peut aussi être utilisée pour faire sortir les gens de la parenté à travers ce que l'on désigne comme « dé-parenter » ( de-kinning ) : par des instances d'appropriation ratée ou des relations de parenté auxquelles il est mis fin. Cet article délimite une approche de la parenté qui prend au sérieux les qualités de longévité du matériel et de la propriété, tout en maintenant l'argument que la parenté est réalisée (ou négociée) à travers la performance active de relations reconnues.

Analyzing water scarcity narratives is important for formulating policies. However, narratives and discourse are not neutral but are deeply embedded in societal contexts. They have the power to influence decision-making processes by legitimizing some solutions and disregarding others, as well as by including or excluding the needs of specific social groups. In this study, we examine water scarcity narratives in Brazil, identify those that perpetuate and support strategic viewpoints and determine which types of narratives possess the most persuasive and coordinative power. Furthermore, we aimed to understand how framing the issue impacts local-level solutions, policies, governance, and water management, specifically emphasizing the state of Sao Paulo. We analyzed a large textual dataset from Brazilian newspaper articles from 2010 to 2021, utilizing machine-learning text classification tools, an essential method in Natural Language Processing. Our findings indicate that the water scarcity narrative in Brazil is multifaceted and encompass various narrative typologies that offer insights into different aspects of the issue. These typologies include narratives on institutional, management/mismanagement, escalating deforestation, and causal factors such as reduced rainfall. These narratives tend to downplay the responsibility of local governments for effective water management and align with climate-centric perspectives. Furthermore, various groups have politically appropriated some narratives, including those promoting denial narratives, which undermine the severity of the water scarcity problem and emphasize the abundance of this resource. On the other hand, water justice narratives bring attention to the challenges of limited access to water and inadequate infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought these issues to the forefront revealing the urgent need for equitable water distribution and improved infrastructure.

Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) projects must include intended contributions to sustainable development in their scope, in addition to promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Previous studies have identified expected co-benefits in CDM projects, nevertheless, they have not focused on solar photovoltaic energy. Although there is high solar irradiation in Latin American countries, there were only 25 registered solar photovoltaic CDM projects. In this study, we examine the intended co-benefits for sustainable development of solar photovoltaic CDM projects in Latin American countries and investigate the climate and energy policies that may have led to the low number of registrations for these projects in the region. The analysis was performed using the T-Lab software program through its Dictionary-Based Classification tool applied to the outlined indicators and criteria. The results indicate gaps in project contributions, for example, the technology transfer was mentioned as equipment and knowledge importation from other countries, which does not imply the development of the local solar industry; community engagement and equal gender opportunities continue to remain challenges, water quality and conservation of biodiversity issues were underscored, and the reducing the overuse competition between cropland and solar panel installation was overlooked. CDM was important to promote diversification in electricity generation in most Latin American countries, but not sufficient to improve the solar photovoltaic market. The main barriers to implementing these projects have been regulation and lack of incentives. The national energy and climate policies in the region should set guidelines/standards for assessing the co-benefits for the sustainable development of GHG reduction projects, aligned with the new carbon market mechanism rules and the UN-Agenda 2030.

Prices on international markets have rocketed recently. Domestic energy bills have gone up, possibly several‐fold, but so also have costs to manufacturers, hauliers, producers and everyone else. It appears to have been a revelation for some people to discover how thoroughly energy costs saturate everyday life from the personal to the general scale, shaping and shaped by international relations. Talking about this situation as an energy crisis has particular effects, from creating awareness of energy as a very odd kind of circulating matter to recognizing the infrastructures that tie people together and keep them apart. It also shows how vital it is that the anthropologies of energy have flourished in recent years, helping to highlight the ethical and moral dimensions of multiple energy infrastructures and their reach into everyday life around the world, whether there are grids or not.

Transition to a post-carbon economy implies changes that are both far-reaching and unprecedented. The notion that a decarbonization transition must encompass multiple forms of justice is gaining ground. In response, the concept of Just Transition has become ever more popular – and confusion about its meaning ever greater. We argue in this paper that the term Just Transition needs a rigorous updating to develop its full conceptual power for the analysis and evaluation of the rapid and extensive energy transitions already underway. After reviewing the different uses of Just Transition in practice and scholarship, we propose that the term be used as an analytical concept for an ongoing process of transition. The Just Transition concept can provide an integrated, whole-system perspective on justice (procedural, distributive, recognition, and restorative) that can help in identifying systemic solutions to address environmental and socio-economic concerns. This would differ from reductionist approaches that derive from legacy silo-sectoral or technologically driven approaches; these too often overlook negative side-effects and wider justice implications of reorganizing economic practice. An examination of COVID-19 pandemic responses illustrates our operationalization of the Just Transition concept, highlighting the importance of designing whole-system policies that are equitable, as well as the pitfalls of pursuing a narrow sectoral approach. Taking seriously the implications of complex systems with hard-to-predict effects also has concrete implications for policy interventions at all levels of governance. In particular, we highlight the importance of attending to multiple social inequalities for ensuring the resilience of whole-system decarbonization in the face of instability, unpredictability, and unprecedented change. Key policy insights • The transition to net-zero will be neither sustainable nor credible if it creates or worsens social inequalities; a backlash is likely if the transition is not perceived to be just. • Pathways forward may only emerge through observation, experimentation, and experience. • A range of policy tools exist to address Just Transition concerns. These include addressing social and environmental aspects of economic policy; making sure that interventions are adapted to local contexts; building democratic engagement platforms; and open and transparent communication. • Job creation does not guarantee just outcomes, as justice goes beyond employment conditions.

Social Anthropology has a long and familiar history in the UK, but what is the state of play today? This essay reflects from the perspective of the chair of the ASA on two years of pandemic upheaval and a crisis of funding and working conditions, institutional challenges and responses from social anthropology.

Decades of techno-economic energy policymaking and research have meant evidence from the Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH)—including critical reflections on what changing a society’s relation to energy (efficiency) even means—have been underutilised. In particular, (i) the SSH have too often been sidelined and/or narrowly pigeonholed by policymakers, funders, and other decision-makers when driving research agendas, and (ii) the setting of SSH-focused research agendas has not historically embedded inclusive and deliberative processes. The aim of this paper is to address these gaps through the production of a research agenda outlining future SSH research priorities for energy efficiency. A Horizon Scanning exercise was run, which sought to identify 100 priority SSH questions for energy efficiency research. This exercise included 152 researchers with prior SSH expertise on energy efficiency, who together spanned 62 (sub-)disciplines of SSH, 23 countries, and a full range of career stages. The resultant questions were inductively clustered into seven themes as follows: (1) Citizenship, engagement and knowledge exchange in relation to energy efficiency; (2) Energy efficiency in relation to equity, justice, poverty and vulnerability; (3) Energy efficiency in relation to everyday life and practices of energy consumption and production; (4) Framing, defining and measuring energy efficiency; (5) Governance, policy and political issues around energy efficiency; (6) Roles of economic systems, supply chains and financial mechanisms in improving energy efficiency; and (7) The interactions, unintended consequences and rebound effects of energy efficiency interventions. Given the consistent centrality of energy efficiency in policy programmes, this paper highlights that well-developed SSH approaches are ready to be mobilised to contribute to the development, and/or to understand the implications, of energy efficiency measures and governance solutions. Implicitly, it also emphasises the heterogeneity of SSH policy evidence that can be produced. The agenda will be of use for both (1) those new to the energy-SSH field (including policyworkers), for learnings on the capabilities and capacities of energy-SSH, and (2) established energy-SSH researchers, for insights on the collectively held futures of energy-SSH research.

Energy transition requires systematic changes, not only to energy technologies but also to the broader political, social, environmental, and economic assemblages that are built around energy production and consumption. Changes in the energy supply and the shift toward renewable energy resources cannot be comprehensively understood without considering the implications of spatial and policy dimensions. This study examined the subnational energy transition in Sao Paulo state, Brazil, and discusses the role of policies and governance in energy transition. The historical series of energy production and consumption of Sao Paulo state were analyzed from 1980 to 2019, and the institutional frameworks that promoted energy transition were also explored. The results show that the effective final consumption of each energy source in the analyzed period (40 years) increased. Despite the increasing proportion of renewable energies (particularly ethanol), fossil fuel consumption grew in this period, which shows a tendency of addition rather than a thorough energy transition. Furthermore, energy governance remains largely dependent on a centralized approach in Brazil. Although there is a growing debate regarding the role of decentralized solutions, energy policy and regulation are still not considered to be the responsibilities of local governments. Cross-sectoral cooperation focused on territorially oriented solutions can improve spatial order by integrating local level capabilities into multilevel governance for the energy transition.