An Ethnography of Household Energy Demand in the UK

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiii

   PDF

2. Introduction: The Time We Have–The Time We Make

   • Roxana Moroşanu

   Pages 1-18

3. How the Light Gets In: A Theoretical Framework for “Ordinary Agency”

   • Roxana Moroşanu

   Pages 19-43

4. Encountering Middleborough: Impressions, Methods, and Tacit Knowledge

   • Roxana Moroşanu

   Pages 45-71

5. Meeting the Families

   • Roxana Moroşanu

   Pages 73-86

6. Spontaneity

   • Roxana Moroşanu

   Pages 87-110

7. Anticipation and the Mother-Multiple

   • Roxana Moroşanu

   Pages 111-138

8. “Family Time” and Domestic Sociality: Forms of Togetherness and Independence with Digital Media

   • Roxana Moroşanu

   Pages 139-169

9. Saving Energy in British Homes: Thoughts and Applications

   • Roxana Moroşanu

   Pages 171-194

10. Back Matter

    Pages 195-199

    PDF

This book challenges the ways we think about human agency by looking at the creativity, ethics, and capacities for social transformation that are embedded in simple actions of “doing”. Stemming from ethnographic research with families in the United Kingdom as part of a wider interdisciplinary project looking at domestic energy demand, this book probes some mundane approaches to time—such as spontaneity, anticipation, and “family time”—and the ways in which they extend ethical imaginations, create new forms of sociality, and engender human agency.

• Energy
• Sustainability
• Applied anthropology
• Visual ethnography
• Time
• anthropology
• climate change
• ethnography
• social science

“This lively, vigorously written account shows just how humdrum actions can be made to yield unexpected insights. If we think energy-saving interventions cannot be rendered sympathetic to the patterns people value, this book suggests we think again. It also invites the anthropologist to think again about research design. Remarkably, the author invented a repertoire of interactions through which she extended the research participants’ means of expression, and simultaneously transformed the potential of her own questions.” (Marilyn Strathern, Professor Emeritus of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, UK)

“Authoritative, engaging and highly relevant, this impressive interdisciplinary synthesis spans engineering, practice theory, ethnography, and the sociology of time. Well-grounded in empirical research, it offers a refreshingly innovative take on the too-often neglected topic of energy efficiency. Many useful insights emerge on how global imperatives for transformation can be addressed in everyday practices of domestic lives. The result is a significant practical and conceptual contribution in a crucial area of current politics and policy.” (Andy Stirling, Professor of Science and Technology Policy, University of Sussex, UK)

“Moroşanu’s book offers lively reflections on ethics, sociality, and time as British families adapt to digital media and energy transition.” (Dominic Boyer, Professor and Director, Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences, Rice University, USA)

• Loughborough University, Loughborough, UK

  Roxana Moroşanu

Roxana Moroşanu Firth is a social anthropologist working in the fields of computing, sustainability and innovation. She is a Research Associate at the Engineering Design Centre, University of Cambridge, UK, and Research Fellow at the Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility, De Montfort University, UK. Her work has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, such as Design Studies, The Cambridge Journal of Anthropology and Cultural Anthropology.

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