Access challenges methodology energethics group 160718.pdf (582.05 kB)
Rethinking access: key methodological challenges in studying energy companies
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 14:15 authored by Ingrid Birce Müftüoglu, Ståle Knudsen, Ragnhild Freng Dale, Oda Eiken, Dinah RajakDinah Rajak, Siri LangeUnderstanding the role of large energy corporations in society is a crucial, yet challenging task for the social science of energy. Ethnographic methods hold potential for plying into corporations’ own self-representations, to reveal the relations of power and politics that determine flows of energy and extractive capital at the global and local level. Ethnography help us move beyond structural analyses, to locate the agents and processes at work within economies of energy production, and identify tensions and dynamics both within the corporation and at the interface with society. We argue that a multi-method and reflexive approach can help social scientists reflect on frictions in corporate encounters, and more importantly that attention to frictions is in fact a gateway to gain new insights about the field. In our research project about Norwegian energy companies and their corporate social responsibility work when ‘going global’, applying a multi-method made us question dominant assumptions within anthropology of what constitutes “access”. We discuss how multiple approaches to “access”, which takes into account the positionality of the researcher, fluidity of research fields along with attention to power dynamics can shape the sort of knowledge that is produced when studying energy companies.
Funding
Norwegian energy companies abroad: Expanding the anthropological understanding of corporate responsibility; G1748; RESEARCH COUNCIL OF NORWAY; 153400/240617
Doing Good by Doing Well'.; G1720; ESRC-ECONOMIC & SOCIAL RESEARCH COUNCIL; ES/L000636/1
History
Publication status
- Published
File Version
- Accepted version
Journal
Energy Research & Social ScienceISSN
2214-6296Publisher
ElsevierExternal DOI
Volume
45Page range
250-257Department affiliated with
- Anthropology Publications
Research groups affiliated with
- Centre for Global Political Economy Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2018-07-26First Open Access (FOA) Date
2019-07-25First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2018-07-25Usage metrics
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