Tarje Iversen Wanvik

Carbonscapes and beyond Conceptualizing the instability of oil landscapes

Geographers tend to see energy systems as intricately interwoven with society and relatively resistant to change. We argue that there is a danger of exaggerating the permanence and stability of the energy–society relationship. Therefore we propose a framework that is more open to instability and transformation. Using assemblage theory, we frame the social and material landscapes of oil – carbonscapes – as having emergent capacities for change built into their relations of exteriority. We illustrate this by discussing instabilities at particular points within the global oil production network: extractive hot zones, energy distribution infrastructures, and urban spaces of consumption and practice.

Encountering a multidimensional assemblage: The case of Norwegian corporate social responsibility activities in Indonesia

A vociferous debate on socio-spatial formations is ongoing between those advocating a geography of scales and those advocating flat ontologies and assemblages, yet a middle ground has not been properly addressed. The author argues for an empirically driven, multidimensional assemblage approach whereby the processes constituting an assemblage and the different socio-spatial organisation of heterogeneous entities form the analytical basis for geographical analyses of particular empirical events. He shows how Norwegian companies in Indonesia encounter different stakeholders constituting a multidimensional (situated, scaled, and networked) ‘assemblage of national interests’ with multitudinous motivations and drivers but quite specific converged influence. He examines the territorialising forces employed during such encounters, the de-territorialising forces challenging the assemblage, and how the evolution of the ‘assemblage of national interests’ resulted in 2012 in the worlds first law on corporate social responsibility (CSR), which has more or less forced Norwegian companies to make social investments in local communities within a CRS framing. The findings are that assemblages are scaled and networked, but also uncoordinated and ‘chaotic’. Norwegian companies in Indonesia are subject to a joint but dispersed, multidimensional assemblage of national interest, where stakeholders on different scales, with multiple motivations, mobilise to persuade them to run social investment programmes.

Arild Holt-Jensen (1937–) receives the Johan August Wahlberg Medal in Gold

On Tuesday 24 April 2018, Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden presented the Johan August Wahlberg Medal in Gold to Professor Emeritus Arild Holt-Jensen during a ceremony at the Royal Palace of Stockholm. According to the official statement from the Swedish Society for Anthropology and Geography (Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi, SSAG), Holt-Jensen received the honour for his holistic view of geography as science, with its applications for urban and regional planning (SSAG n.d.). In times of shaken academic foundations, this medal of honour should not go unnoticed. The SSAG has over a century of history with several well-known geographical explorers, professors, and scientists among its members, such as Sven Hedin, Salomon August Andrée, and Adolf Erik Nordenskiöld. Since 1878, the society’s chief patron has been the King of Sweden. In addition to regular activities during its early history, the society organized expeditions to explore the Earth’s last unmapped areas. In memory of these early expeditions, the society awards several travel grants and prizes for excellent contributions to geography and social anthropology. The Johan August Wahlberg gold medal of honour commemorates Johan August Wahlberg (1810–1856), a Swedish naturalist, explorer, and instructor at the Swedish Land Survey College (Wahlberg 1994). Holt-Jensen is a distinguished professor emeritus at the Department of Geography in Bergen, where he has been working since 1965, and his scholarly contributions are manifold. Many will recognize him as an experienced teacher and a textbook author for secondary school and university level, both for Norwegian readers and increasingly for an international audience. In more than 40 years, Holt-Jensen has spent time and energy on communicating geographical knowledge and understanding to different audiences, at different levels of society. He has been politically active and has participated in societal planning on both regional and local scales, with a particular focus on social housing strategies in cities. His understanding of the close connection between academic knowledge and practical, real-life implementation has driven his work in fruitful directions, always with a hands-on, practical bias. His courses have always had a strong, practical, field-exposing component, in which students have been encouraged to participate in research activities and explorations, thereby giving them valuable experience as future teachers, planners, bureaucrats, politicians, or consultants. Central to the award committee’s decision was HoltJensen’s book Geography: History and Concepts, recently published as a fifth edition (Holt-Jensen 2018). The book is an accessible, definitive introduction to geographical thought for students, in which Holt-Jensen employs a unique approach that encompasses environmental, historical, and social perspectives. It has been translated to several languages, including Chinese, and provides the reader with a comprehensive insight into the rich scientific history of the post-war period. Holt-Jensen covers topics ranging from regional geography, through the quantitative revolution and model thinking, to Arild Holt-Jensen (Photo: Jonas Åkerman, 2018)