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Department of Social Anthropology
bsas seminar

Department seminar: Ragnhild Freng Dale

The Department of Social Anthropology is happy to announce the upcoming seminar with Dr. Ragnhild Freng Dale (Western Norway Research Institute). The title of the lecture is "Elusive Resources and Community Expectations: Petroleum Narratives by the Norwegian Barents Sea".

Oljedirektoratet
Ragnhild Freng Dale will focus on Norwegian petroleum narratives in her talk at the Department seminar on Thursday, January 30.
Photo:
Oljedirektoratet

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Seminar paper

For the last two decades, the Barents Sea has been seen as a promising ‘new chapter’ in Norway’s petroleum history, and championed as a driver of future development for northern communities. But save for the city of Hammerfest, there is little onshore development to trace; the resource itself as elusive as the expectations of what it will bring to the region.

Dry wells, sinking oil prices, and fields that turn out to be smaller than expected signal that a petroleum-driven future may be sliding out of reach. Alongside, companies seem less committed to honouring earlier promises of local content in new projects, with Equinor’s decision to not bring the Castberg project onshore a case in point. Looking at the material elusiveness of petroleum resources, and the equally elusive promises (Abram and Weszkalnys 2013) of what these resources will bring to the north, this paper charts recent changes in the narratives of Arctic petroleum and how local communities respond when expectations remain unfulfilled.

About the lecturer

Ragnhild Freng Dale is a social anthropologist and senior researcher at the Western Norway Research Institute (Vestlandsforsking). Her research interests include climate and energy, community impacts, indigenous perspectives and environmental activism. She has also  carried out a number of projects with artists and the performing arts field. Ragnhild holds a PhD from the Scott Polar Research Institute at the University of Cambridge, and is a member of the Young Academy of Norway.

Light refreshments will be served in the Corner Room after the seminar. All interested are welcome!