Energy Citizenship: The History of Coal and the Future of Democracy

Speaker:  Trish Kahle, Assistant Professor of History, Georgetown University Qatar

How much risk—bodily, environmental, economic, or political—is acceptable in a democratic energy system? And, just as importantly, who should bear that risk? These questions have been at the core of energy policy-making in the modern United States, but the answers to these questions often have uncomfortable answers. In this talk, Kahle will consider the uncertain relationship between coal and democracy in US history as miners’ democratic aspirations confronted the deadly record of the country’s coal mines. From that conflict emerged a coal-fired social contract that continues to shape the present.

Date

October 10, 2024    

Time

4:15 pm – 5:15 pm

Location

1163 Mechanical Engineering
1513 University Avenue, Madison