Staff profile
Affiliation |
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Professor in the Department of Anthropology |
Executive Director in the Durham Energy Institute |
Biography
Research
How will we live in times to come? What can be done now to make the future liveable? My work has always been related to questions of change and time, from my early doctoral research (1994) on how people imagine a future (and perform it for tourists) under conditions of economic decline, to questions about how people engage with land-use planning and the workings and future-imaginaries of local government, to my more recent work on energy issues. All of my ethnographic work has been based in Western Europe – UK, France, Scandinavia, although I work collaboratively with colleagues across the world.
Alongside my recent work on energy, I have been conducting ethnographic research with Prof Marianne Lien of Oslo University on kinship and property (https://www.sv.uio.no/sai/english/research/projects/MATKIN/index.html) .
Current research projects include:
- ‘INCLUDE’, a research centre for socially-inclusive energy transitions, which is based at the university of Oslo;
- ‘GEMS’, Geothermal energy from mines and solar-geothermal heat, where we will work with post-coal communities on the implications and significance of re-using abandoned mines;
- ‘ICHP’, Zero-Carbon Emission Integrated Cooling, Heating and Power networks, where we will explore the socio-environmental conditions for siting hydrogen-hubs in urban areas;
- ‘Marlin Star’, Community Access to Stored and Transferrable Energy from Floating Renewables, where we have been working with communities in Gujarat and in Bangladesh to include them in infrastructure-design;
- ‘CESI’, the national centre for Energy Systems Integration, which ends in 2021, where my role was to bring an anthropological and STS sensitivity to the work of energy system modelling and focus particular attention on the ethical repercussions of system modelling work.
Much of my current work is interdisciplinary, working with engineers, mathematicians, philosophers, sociologists and geographers. I am on the management board of the Durham Arctic Research Centre for Training and Interdisciplinary collaboration (https://www.durham.ac.uk/research/institutes-and-centres/arctic).
I bring interdisciplinary approaches into teaching, too, through the MSc Sustainability, Energy and Development, which I lead with Dr Ben Campbell.
I helped to found the Energy Anthropology Network (hypotheses.com/ean), and am involved in the Energy Futures Network of the European Association of Social anthropologists. I am a member of the Fair Transitions Consortium (https://energy-ethics.net).
I am currently chair of the Association of Social Anthropologists of the UK.
I am happy to hear from prospective post-doctoral researchers or phd researchers who wish to work on energy-related topics from an anthropological or interdisciplinary perspectives. Please also contact me if you wish to work with me on issues related to local development or tourism development. My regional ethnographic experience covers Scandinavia (primarily Norway), France and England.
Research interests
- Energy futures, and infrastructures
- Professional and expert practices
- Inhabitation and Property
- Government and bureaucracy
Esteem Indicators
- 2020: Chair of the Association of Social Anthropologists UK:
- 2017: Visiting Professor University of Bergen:
- 2017: Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts:
- 2015: Founding editor of ASAonline, journal of the ASA: Founding editor of ASAonline, journal of the ASA
- 2013: Visiting Professor at University of Paris 8 (Saint Denis) and LAVUE (Laboratoire Architecture Ville Urbanisme Environnement):
- 2013: Organising committee of IUAES: Secretary to organising committee of the World Congress of the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Societies, Manchester:
- 2010: Honorary Secretary of ASA: Secretary to Association of Social Anthropologists 2005-2010:
Publications
Authored book
- Abram, S., & Lund, K. (2017). Green Ice. Tourism Ecologies in the European High North. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58736-7
- Pink, S., & Abram, S. (2015). Media, Anthropology and Public Engagement. Berghahn Journals
- Abram, S. (2011). Culture and Planning. Ashgate Publishing
- Murdoch, J., & Abram, S. (2002). Rationalities of planning: development versus environment in planning for housing. Ashgate Publishing
Chapter in book
- Pink, S., Ortar, N., Waltorp, K., & Abram, S. (in press). Imagining energy futures: an introduction. In S. Abram, K. Waltorp, N. Ortar, & S. Pink (Eds.), Energy Futures: Anthropocene Challenges, Emerging Technologies and Everyday Life. De Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110745641-002
- Abram, S. Destination Development Performances, or How we Learn to Love Tourism. In A. Viken, & B. Granaas (Eds.), Tourism Destination Development (63-78). Routledge
- Ling-Chin, J., Turner, B., Abram, S., Giampieri, A., But, B., Abad, A. V., & Roskilly, A. P. (2024). Hydrogen-fueled transportation as a measure for climate change mitigation: Social perspectives. . Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-443-18515-1.00005-8
- Abram, S. (2023). Promises of the past: transformations, transitions and traditions. In C. Eisler, & K. Schuchard (Eds.), Versprechen als kulturelle Konfigurationen in politischen Kontexten. Interdisziplinäre Zugänge und Perspektiven (34-46). Institut für Sächsische Geschichte und Volkskunde. https://doi.org/10.25366/2022.112
- Abram, S. (2022). Electricity as a Field for Anthropological Theorising and Research. In M. H. Bruun, A. Wahlberg, R. Douglas-Jones, C. Hasse, K. Hoeyer, D. B. Kristensen, & B. R. Winthereik (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of the Anthropology of Technology (741-755). (1). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7084-8_38
- Abram, S. (2020). Inheriting Kinship: Norwegian Holiday Property as Relational Practice. In M. Holdgaard, A. Magnusdottir, & B. Selmer (Eds.), Nordic inheritance law through the ages (251-271). Brill Academic Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004435582_013
- Abram, S. (2019). Likhet Is Not Equality: Discussing Norway in English and Norwegian. In S. Bendixsen, M. Bringslid, & H. Vike (Eds.), Egalitarianism in Scandinavia. Approaches to Social Inequality and Difference (87-108). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59791-1_4
- Abram, S., & Blandy, S. (2018). Ownership and belonging in urban green space. In T. Xu, & A. Clarke (Eds.), Legal strategies for the development and protection of communal property (177-201). Oxford University Press
- Abram, S. (2017). Contemporary Obsessions with Time and the Promise of the Future. In J. F. Salazar, S. Pink, A. Irving, & J. Sjöberg (Eds.), Anthropologies and futures : researching emerging and uncertain worlds (61-82). Bloomsbury Academic
- Abram, S. (2017). Im/mobile method/ologies. In A. Elliot, R. Norum, & N. Salazar (Eds.), Methodologies of mobility : ethnography and experiment (195-200). Berghahn Books
- Abram, S. (2017). Learning to Meet (or How to talk to Chairs). In J. Sandler, & R. Thedvall (Eds.), Meeting ethnography : meetings as key technologies of contemporary governance, development, and resistance (46-68). Routledge
- Abram, S. (2016). Jokkmokk: Rapacity and Resistance in Sápmi. In G. Huggan, & L. Jensen (Eds.), Postcolonial Perspectives on the European High North. Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58817-3_3
- Abram, S., & Pink, S. (2015). Introduction: Mediating Publics and Anthropology. In S. Pink, & S. Abram (Eds.), Media, anthropology and public engagement (1-22). Berghan Books
- Abram, S. (2014). Rénovation urbaine et participation en Angleterre: enseignements et comparaisons. In A. Deboulet, & C. Lelévrier (Eds.), Rénovation Urbaine en Europe (85-96). Presses Universitaires de Rennes
- Abram, S. (2014). ‘Bias Binding’: Re-Calling Creativity in Qualitative Research. In C. Smart, J. Hockey, & A. James (Eds.), The Craft of Knowledge: Experiences of Living with Data (21-38). Palgrave Macmillan
- Abram, S., & Weszkalnys, G. (2013). Elusive Promises: Planning in the Contemporary World. An introduction. In S. Abram, & G. Weszkalnys (Eds.), Elusive Promises: Planning in the Contemporary World (1-34). Berghahn Journals
- Abram, S. (2012). ‘Planlegging i et Kulturperspektiv’ [Culural perspectives on planning]. In N. Aarsæther, E. Falleth, T. Nyseth, & R. Kristiansen (Eds.), Utfordringer for norsk planlegging [Challenges for Norwegian Planning]. Høyskoleforlaget
- Abram, S. (2010). Anthropology, Tourism and Intervention?. In J. Scott, & T. Selwyn (Eds.), Thinking Through Tourism (231-253). Berg
- Abram, S. (2008). Transparency and Participation: Partnership and Hierarchies in British Urban Regeneration. In C. Garsten, & M. Lindh de Montoya (Eds.), Transparency in a new global order: unveiling organizational visions (201-222). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781848441354.00020
- Abram, S. (2008). Public participation and the problem of exclusion. In C. Garston, & M. Lindh de Montoya (Eds.), Transparency in a New Global Order (201-222). Edward Elgar Publishing
- Abram, S. (2007). Participatory depoliticisation: the bleeding heart of neo-liberalism. In C. Neveu (Ed.), Cultures et pratiques participatives: perspectives comparatives (113-133). L'Harmattan
- Abram, S. (2007). Loyalty and Politics: The discourses of liberalisation. In S. Ardener, & F. Moore (Eds.), Professional Identities: Policy and Practice in Business and Bureaucracy (87-107). Berghahn Journals
- Abram, S. (2004). The Smell of Money: minor risks and olfactory sensibilities – the anatomy of a protest. In Å. Boholm, & R. Löftstedt (Eds.), Facility Siting: Risk, Power and Identity in Land-use Planning (72-88). Earthscan
- Abram, S. (2003). Gazing on Rurality. In P. Cloke (Ed.), Country Visions (32-48). Harlow: Pearson
- Abram, S. (2003). Anthropologies in policies, anthropologies in places. In T. Hylland Eriksen (Ed.), Globalisation: Studies in Anthropology (138-157). Pluto Press
- Abram, S., & Vike, H. (2001). People out of Place? Perspectives on Participation. In S. Connelly, S. Abram, & T. Richardson (Eds.), Perspectives on Participation (4-7). University of Sheffield, Department of Town and Regional Planning
- Abram, S. (2001). Amongst Professionals: Working with Pressure Groups and Local Authorities. In D. Gellner, & E. Hirsch (Eds.), Inside Organisations: Anthropologists at Work (183-203). Berg
- Abram, S. (2001). All that fuss over 100 houses: identities and moralities of building on land. In M. Saltman (Ed.), Identity, Ethnicity and Territoriality (71-92). Berg
- Murdoch, J., Abram, S., & Marsden, T. (1999). Technical Expertise and Public Participation in Planning for Housing: ‘Playing the Numbers Game. In G. Stoker (Ed.), Power and Participation: The new politics of British local governance (198-214). Macmillan
- Murdoch, J., Abram, S., & Marsden, T. (1998). Planning by Numbers: migration and statistical governance. In P. Boyle, & K. Halfacree (Eds.), Migration into Rural Areas: Theories and Issues (236-251). Wiley
- Abram, S. (1998). Anthropological Perspectives on Development. In S. Abram, & J. Waldren (Eds.), Anthropological Perspectives on Development: Interests, Identities and Sentiments in Conflict (1-17). (EASA). Routledge
- Abram, S., & Waldren, J. (1997). Tourists and Tourism. In S. Abram, J. Waldren, & D. Macleod (Eds.), Tourists and Tourism: Identifying with People and Places (1-12). Berg
- Abram, S. (1997). Performing for tourists in France. In S. Abram, J. Waldren, & D. Macleod (Eds.), Tourists and Tourism: Identifying with People and Places (29-50). Berg
- Marsden, T., Murdoch, J., & Abram, S. (1997). Rural Sustainability in Britain: The Social Realisation of Sustainability. In M. Redclift, & G. Woodgates (Eds.), The Handbook of Environmental Sociology (467-478). Edward Elgar Publishing
- Abram, S. (1996). European Reactions to the Tourist Gaze: A view from the Deep Green Heart of France. In J. Boissevain (Ed.), Coping with Tourists (174-203). Berghahn Journals
Edited book
- Abram, S., Winthereik, B. R., & Yarrow, T. (Eds.). (2019). Electrifying Anthropology: exploring electrical practices and infrastructures. Bloomsbury
- Abram, S., & Weszkalnys, G. (Eds.). (2013). Elusive promises: planning in the contemporary world. Berghahn Journals
- Abram, S., & Waldren, J. (Eds.). (1998). Anthropological Perspectives on Local Development: Knowledge and Sentiments in Conflict. Routledge
- Abram, S., Waldren, J., & Macleod, D. (Eds.). (1997). Tourists and Tourism: Identifying with People and Places. Berg
Journal Article
- Abram, S. (online). Planning and public-making in municipal government. Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology, 21-34
- Abram, S. (2024). Problem solving as selective blindness. Critique of Anthropology, 44(3), 256-275. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275x241269606
- Silvast, A., Virtanen, M., & Abram, S. (2024). Habits Over Routines: Remarks on Control Room Practices and Control Room Studies. Computer Supported Cooperative Work, 33, 39–58. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-022-09460-5
- Abram, S., & Lien, M. E. (2023). Kinning and De-kinning: Houses, Heirlooms and the Reproduction of Family. Social Anthropology, 31(3), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.3167/saas.2023.310302
- Ottonelli, J., Lazaro, L. L. B., Andrade, J. C. S., & Abram, S. (2023). Do solar photovoltaic clean development mechanism projects contribute to sustainable development in Latin America? Prospects for the Paris Agreement. Energy Policy, 174, Article 113428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2023.113428
- Abram, S. (2023). Decarbonising Tenants. Housing Finance International, Spring,
- Silvast, A., Abram, S., & Copeland, C. (2023). Energy systems integration as research practice. Technology Analysis and Strategic Management, 35(3), 302-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/09537325.2021.1974376
- Lien, M. E., & Abram, S. (2023). Passing It On: Kinship, Temporality and Moral Personhood in Norwegian ‘Hytte’ Succession. Social Anthropology, 31(3), 33-50. https://doi.org/10.3167/saas.2023.310304
- Lazaro, L., Soares, R., Bermann, C., Collaço, F., Giatti, L., & Abram, S. (2022). Energy transition in Brazil: Is there a role for multilevel governance in a centralized energy regime?. Energy Research and Social Science, 85, Article 102404. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2021.102404
- Abram, S., Atkins, E., Dietzel, A., Jenkins, K., Kiamba, L., Kirshner, J., Kreienkamp, J., Parkhill, K., Pegram, T., & Santos Ayllón, L. M. (2022). Just Transition: A whole-systems approach to decarbonisation. Climate Policy, 22(8), 1033 - 1049. https://doi.org/10.1080/14693062.2022.2108365
- Silvast, A., Laes, E., Abram, S., & Bombaerts, G. (2020). What do energy modellers know? An ethnography of epistemic values and knowledge models. Energy Research and Social Science, 66, Article 101495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101495
- Hanmer, C., & Abram, S. (2017). Actors, networks, and translation hubs: Gas central heating as a rapid socio-technical transition in the United Kingdom. Energy Research and Social Science, 34, 176-183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2017.03.017
- Abram, S. (2017). Contradiction in contemporary political life: meeting bureaucracy in Norwegian municipal government. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 23(S1), 27-44. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12592
- Abram, S., Feldman Bianco, B., Khosravi, S., Salazar, N., & de Genova, N. (2017). The free movement of people around the world would be Utopian IUAES World Congress 2013: Evolving Humanity, Emerging Worlds, 5–10 August 2013. Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power, 24(3), 123-155. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289x.2016.1142879
- Abram, S., & Norum, R. (2016). An archaeology of Arctic travel journalism. Studies in Travel Writing, 20(3), 272-284. https://doi.org/10.1080/13645145.2016.1230292
- Abram, S., Acciaioli, G., Baviskar, A., Kopnina, H., Nonini, D., & Strang, V. (2016). Special Module: Plenary Debate from the IUAES World Congress 2013: Evolving Humanity, Emerging Worlds, 5–10 August 2013. Anthropological Forum, 26(1), 74-95. https://doi.org/10.1080/00664677.2015.1102229
- Abram, S. (2016). Culture? And Planning?. Planning Theory & Practice, 17(4), 654-657. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2016.1230318
- Abram, S. (2015). IUAES World Congress 2013: Evolving humanity, emerging worlds, 5–10 August 2013. Critique of Anthropology, 35(2), 205-219. https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275x15588009
- Abram, S. (2014). Values of property (properties of value): capitalization of kinship in Norway. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 12(3), 253-266. https://doi.org/10.1080/14766825.2014.938854
- Abram, S. (2014). The time it takes: temporalities of planning. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 20(S1), 129 -147. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12097
- Abram, S. (2013). Modern fossils: response to Vaden and Salminen. Suomen Antropologi, 38(3), 57-61
- Abram, S. (2012). The ‘Normal’ Cabin’s revenge: Building Norwegian (Holiday) Home-Cultures. Home Cultures: The Journal of Architecture Design and Domestic Space, 9(3), 233-256
- Ween, G., & Abram, S. (2012). The Norwegian Trekking Association: Trekking as constituting the Nation
- Abram, S., & Weszkalnys, G. (2011). Introduction: Anthropologies of planning-Temporality, imagination, and ethnography. Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology, 2011(61), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.3167/fcl.2011.610101
- Abram, S., & Lien, M. (2011). Performing Nature at World’s Ends. Ethnos, 76(1), 3-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2010.544855
- Abram, S. (2011). Kulttuuri ja yhdyskuntasuunnittelu – mitä antropologia voisi tuoda suunnittelun tutkimukseen
- Abram, S. (2007). Living Through Regeneration - Capturing Multiple Stakeholder Perceptions to Enrich the Qualitative Research Methods Curriculum. Transactions (Centre for Education in the Built Environment), 4(2), 67-84. https://doi.org/10.11120/tran.2007.04020067
- Abram, S., & Booth, P. (2005). Culture, Place and Planning: a Case Study of Problem Based Learning
- Abram, S. (2005). Introduction: science/technology as politics by other means. Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology, 2005(46), https://doi.org/10.3167/092012906780786816
- Abram, S. (2004). Personality and professionalism in a Norwegian district council. Planning Theory, 3, 21-40
- Abram, S., & Cowell, R. (2004). Learning Policy-The Contextual Curtain and Conceptual Barriers. European Planning Studies, 12, 209-228
- Abram, S., & Cowell, R. (2004). Dilemmas of implementation: `integration' and `participation' in Norwegian and Scottish local government. Environment and planning. C, Government and policy, 22, 701-720. https://doi.org/10.1068/c0350
- Abram, S. (2003). Antropologi, Styring og Forvaltning [Anthropologies of Governance]
- Abram, S. (2000). Planning the Public: Some Comments on Empirical Problems for Planning Theory. Journal of Planning Education and Research, 19, 351-357
- Murdoch, J., Abram, S., & Marsden, T. (1999). Modalities of planning: a reflection on the persuasive powers of the development plan. Town Planning Review, 70, 191-212
- Murdoch, J., & Abram, S. (1998). Defining the limits of community governance. Journal of Rural Studies, 14(1), 41-50
- Abram, S. (1998). Class, countryside and the 'Longitudinal Study'. Journal of Rural Studies, 14, 369-380
- Abram, S., Murdoch, J., & Marsden, T. (1996). The social construction of `Middle England': the politics of participation in forward planning. Journal of Rural Studies, 12(4), 353-364
Other (Digital/Visual Media)
- Abram, S. (2005). Living through Regeneration. 28 minute documentary film produced in collaboration with Claire Allam and funded through LDMU Learning and Teaching Grant scheme
- Abram, S. (2002). Much Ado About Norway. 34 minute documentary film (VHS) produced in collaboration with Cinema Oslo
- Abram, S. (1999). Contributor to Savage Minds Blog, The Anthropology Project
Other (Print)
- Abram, S. (2010). Lokalpolitisk praksis i norge (Political practice in Norway)
- Abram, S. (2008). Reproducing the Norwegian Myth: Egalitarianism and the Normal
- Abram, S. (2007). Bricks coming out of the ground: Reconstructing Norfolk Park
- Abram, S. (2006). Living through regeneration. Learning from the experience of residents of Norfolk Park
- Abram, S., & Booth, P. (2004). Problem-based Learning in 'culture, Place and Planning
- Abram, S. (2002). Enhancing Local Democracy – the Scandinavian Link
- Abram, S. (2001). Casting the net wide: lessons from Norway for community strategies
- Abram, S. (2001). Community Planning in Norway and Scotland: Introduction and Findings
- Connelly, S., Richardson, T., & Abram, S. (2001). Perspectives on Participation
- Murdoch, J., & Abram, S. (1998). Building Jerusalem as a Suburb
- Abram, S. (1998). Why do people have faith in planning? Rationalities and realities in the British planning system
- Abram, S., Marsden, T., & Murdoch, J. (1996). Modalities of Planning: Arenas, Actors and Strategies of persuasion in the development plan review
- Abram, S., Marsden, T., & Murdoch, J. (1996). Constructing Middle England: The politics of participation in forward planning
- Abram, S., Marsden, T., & Murdoch, J. (1996). Delimiting debate : the bureaucracy of migration
- Abram, S. (1996). Findings: Middle Class Representation in Strategic Planning
- Abram, S., Murdoch, J., Marsden, T., & Wales, U. O. (1996). Participation in strategic forward planning in Buckinghamshire: the making of 'middle England'?
- Abram, S. (1994). Policy, Morality and the Art of Government: Review of the 2nd Biannual EASA conference
- Abram, S. (1994). Recollections and recreations : tourism, heritage and history in the French Auvergne