"Ethnographies of Transformation: Crafting Post-Coal Futures in Eastern Germany" Field: Anthropology of the future, transformation, the environment

On 3 July 2020, responding to global calls to combat climate change, reduce CO2-emissions, and exit from fossil fuels, the German government passed legislation to phase out coal by 2038 and derive 95% of energy from renewable sources by 2050. In addition to decommissioning the coal industry and expanding the renewable sector, this plan envisions making the country's coal regions 'fit for the future' (zukunftsfähig) by fostering innovative industries and advancing rural development through locally designed processes of 'structural transformation' (Strukturwandel). With its core themes of sustainable energy provision, technological innovation, and civic participation, this transformation is situated at the intersection of three contemporary moments of crisis: of the environment, of capitalism, and of democracy. My research will focus on the distinctively Eastern German experience of organising 'structural transformation', a term which reminds people of the 'structural ruptures' of reunification in the 1990s (deindustrialization and privatization, thousands of layoffs, outmigration in the millions, and the emptying of formerly thriving towns and villages). In its focus on economic, rural, and industrial development, the post-coal transformation interlinks with these wounds of post socialist transformation. This makes Eastern Germany an intriguing research site where orientations towards the past and the future must be reconciled in the present through the negotiation and organisation of change.

During twelve months of fieldwork, I will follow civic, political, and corporate actors as they navigate the crafting of post-coal futures in an area that exemplifies the complexities, bureaucratic intricacies, and uneven nature of the nationally postulated transformation as it meets local realities. Three questions will guide my research:

(1) What issues do projects for the post-coal future problematize and envision to fix?
(2) How do local actors navigate conflicts between administrative structures, ideal developmental scenarios, and geographical realities?
(3) How do perceptions of the post-coal future, and the hopes and fears tied to structural transformation, differ among inhabitants of the same area?

My research speaks to scholarly debates about life in conditions of crisis and uncertainty; the production of space under capitalism and deindustrialization; the implications of the mobility of capital and people; and about distinctions between rural and urban, humans and the environment. It follows contemporary calls for an anthropology that expands anthropocentric research to geographical, infrastructural, and ecological domains, and it is dedicated to the exploration of timely questions about how people operate in response to complex issues that challenge familiar structures of political and spatial organisation.