Conceptions of Power: Energy, Environment, and the North, 7.5 credits

Contents

The course Conceptions of Power: Energy, Environment, and the North introduces students to the history of energy as an idea, shaped by changing conceptions of nature, progress, and the nation, with a particular focus on the twentieth century. Using the Nordic region, and Sweden in particular, as its point of departure, the course examines how oil became a decisive energy source in processes of modernization and how forests and rivers came to be understood as the foundation of an independent energy system. Against this background, the course explores how different energy systems, including fossil fuels, hydropower, nuclear power, and renewable energy, have been associated with distinct visions of the future and specific ideas about whom or what energy is intended to serve. Students learn to analyze representations of northern energy landscapes as expressions of these ideas and to understand how the Nordic region has been imagined as an empty frontier and a “land of the future” during its transformation into an industrial society. The course highlights a range of social, political, and intellectual perspectives on energy systems and emphasizes that conservation, resistance, protest, and competing understandings of nature have always been integral parts of energy debates rather than obstacles to development. Students are also introduced to historical perspectives on the ongoing energy transition. Through these perspectives, they learn to recognize in contemporary promises and conflicts the same enduring tensions between ideas of progress and their social and environmental costs that have historically shaped relationships between power, nature, and society in the Nordic region.

Expected learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

• describe key developments in the intellectual history of energy during the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on Nordic and Swedish contexts;
• explain how different energy systems have been associated with particular visions of the future and conceptions of nature, progress, and the nation.

Competence and Skills

• analyze representations of northern energy landscapes as expressions of historically changing ideas about nature and society;
• apply concepts and perspectives from the history of ideas to a defined body of material and present the analysis in written form with appropriate use of sources and references.

Judgement and Approach

• critically examine the notion of the Nordic region as an empty frontier for energy development and discuss which perspectives and interests such representations make visible and which they obscure;
• discuss the promises and conflicts of the ongoing energy transition in relation to longer intellectual and historical tensions between ideas of progress and their costs.

Required Knowledge

Form of instruction

The course is taught in English and consists of lectures, seminars, group exercises and independent study.

Where attendance at lectures, seminars, or other activities is compulsory and forms part of the examination, this will be clearly indicated in the course schedule. Students who are unable to attend compulsory activities will be assigned alternative tasks by the course instructor.

Examination modes

Examination is based on active participation in obligatory seminars and an individual written on-campus examination. Seminar assignments are graded Pass (G) or Fail (U). The individual written examination is graded Pass with Distinction (VG), Pass (G), or Fail (U). To obtain a Pass (G) for the course, students must receive a Pass grade on all compulsory seminar assignments and a Pass grade on the written examination. To obtain a Pass with Distinction (VG), students must receive a Pass grade on all compulsory seminar assignments and a Pass with Distinction grade on the written examination.

A resit examination shall be offered no later than two months after the ordinary examination. However, a resit examination may not be offered earlier than ten working days after the results of the ordinary examination have been announced and copies of the students’ examination papers have been made available. For examinations conducted during May and June, the first resit examination may be offered within three months of the ordinary examination. In addition, at least one further resit opportunity, referred to as a supplementary examination, shall be offered within one year of the ordinary examination. Students who have passed an examination may not retake it in order to obtain a higher grade. The number of examination opportunities is limited to five.

For students who have a recommendation of support for students with disabilities the examiner may decide on individual adaption of examination modes set out in the course syllabus. Individual adaption of examination modes must always be considered based on the student's specific needs and the framework of the intended learning outcomes in the course syllabus. For more information, see Procedure for support for students with disabilities and Rules for grades and examination.

Other regulations

If a course syllabus ceases to apply or undergoes substantial revision, students are guaranteed at least three examination opportunities (including the ordinary examination opportunity) in accordance with the syllabus under which they were originally registered. This guarantee applies for a maximum period of two years from the date on which the previous syllabus ceased to apply or the course was discontinued.

This course may not be included in a degree together with another course of substantially similar content. Students who are uncertain whether two courses overlap in content should consult the Director of Studies at the Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious Studies, Umeå University.

Transitional provisions

Rules for grades and examination govern what applies regarding retakes when a course has been discontinued or a syllabus has undergone major changes.