In the 2020s, a growing number of activists and scholars have started using the term ‘green colonialism’ to describe how the burden of the ‘energy transition’ demanded at an international level is primarily borne by formerly colonised states (Hamouchene 2023; Claar 2025; Dejonghe and Van de Graaf 2025). Consequently, several scholars have attempted to develop a rigorous concept of ‘energy colonialism’ applicable to present-day examples of renewable energy mega-projects undertaken in the Global South for the benefit of the Global North (Sánchez Contreras and al. 2023; Müller 2024). By contrast, the history of energy during the heyday of European colonialism is usually examined through a geopolitical lens. Consequently, historians of energy tend to use terms such as ‘fossil imperialism’ and ‘energy imperialism’ rather than ‘energy colonialism’, even when studying former colonies (Musso and Crouzet 2019). This is problematic as if energy imperialism can take various forms, from foreign capital investments in energy production to unequal exchanges of energy, only in colonial situations does energy production and circulation come under the sovereignty of a foreign state.
Meanwhile, STS scholars and energy historians have been calling for a more pluralist and less Eurocentric history of energy for years (van der Straeten and Hasenöhrl 2016; Russ and Turnbull 2025). However, despite repeated calls to provincialize Europe in energy history, comparatively few historical studies have examined issues relating to fuel, power and energy in colonized territories between the 18th and mid-20th centuries (exceptions include Hasenöhrl 2018; Chatterjee 2020; Shutzer 2020; Conor 2024; Cropper 2025). Until now, the vast majority of socio-political and environmental histories of energy remain focused on Europe, the United States, and OPEC+ countries (e.g. Andrews 2010; Mitchell 2013; Malm 2016; Vergara 2021; Gross and Needham 2023; Fressoz 2024; Bruisch 2025).
Outside of the Western world, energy historians have devoted much of their attention to the Middle East (Meiton 2019; Barak 2020; Malm 2024) and to some parts of Eastern Asia, especially China and Japan (Wu 2015; Seow 2023). The majority of these regions were never formally colonised, and, in the case of states such as the Ottoman Empire and Japan were imperial powers themselves.
Moreover, studies examining the socio-environmental aspects of energy production, consumption or distribution in colonial settings frequently concentrate on a particular geographical area or energy source (e.g. Chatterjee 2023; Nguyen 2025) and the history of colonial energy still tends to be written independently of that of former metropolises (e.g. Cornu and al. 2025). Considering all of
this, we believe that it would be beneficial to bring together studies related to specific colonies and energy productions and circulations to help identifying transversal themes and issues pertaining to colonial energy history.
We launch today this call to participate in a series of online roundtable discussions devoted to the colonial histories of energy, aiming at sparking a dialogue amongst scholars of energy and colonial history. The proposed format is the following: during these half-day sessions, several researchers will present their ongoing research for 5 minutes each, after which there will be time for collective discussion and exchange on the transversal questions outlined below. Our aim is to bring together scholars for whom issues of fuel, power or energy are an important part of their research in colonial history, and vice-versa energy historians who study colonial settings.
This series of online roundtables will aim to answer the following questions (amongst others):
- What does the ‘colonial situation’ (Balandier 1951) make to energy production, circulation and consumption, in comparison to metropolitan and informal imperial contexts?
- Reciprocally, why and how is energy history an interesting prism to analyze colonial situations?
We are therefore particularly interested in comparative studies of different types of formal colonisation, such as colonies, protectorates and mandates, as well as comparisons between colonies and the metropolis and between formal and informal colonisation.
We welcome applications from researchers specialising in energy and colonial history to participate in a series of online roundtables on the colonial histories of energy, which will take place in late summer 2026. The deadline for submissions is 15 July (see below for practical details).
Expressions of interest, in the form of a short statement (200-300 words) explaining your research in energy and colonial history and your motivation for participating in the roundtable(s), along with your CV, your availabilities (dates and time zone) in September and any questions, should be sent to Lucie Rondeau du Noyer (lucie.rondeau-du-noyer@cnrs.fr) and Armel Campagne (armel.campagne@ucd.ie) by 15 July 2026 11:55 PM CET. Accepted participants will be notified by the 30th of July. The roundtable(s), divided in thematic half-day sessions, are set to take place online in early September 2026.