The Energy History Project at the Joint Center for History and Economics held a workshop on February 21-22, 2013 at Harvard University. This meeting was part of an ongoing series of events designed to open new horizons in the global and comparative history of energy. The workshop reexamined the history of Asia through what might be called the "new history of energy," an approach that expands research on energy history and energy policy in order to better account for the particular characteristics and uses of energy sources, from fossil fuels and renewable alternatives to human and animal labor. The workshop placed energy at the center of inquiry in Asian history, asking how energy production and consumption interacted with larger social and environmental processes. We also used the focus on energy to reconsider well-known narratives within national and regional histories. This event was generously sponsored by the Harvard University Center for the Environment, the Harvard-Yenching Institute, the Harvard University Asia Center, the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies, the Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, and the Joint Center for History and Economics.

 

Workshop contact: Philipp Lehmann (plehmann@fas.harvard.edu)