We invite papers for a proposed Central Asian Survey special issue focusing on the role of energy in people’s lives throughout Central Asia and beyond. Literature on energy in the region has largely focused on geopolitical issues and national policies. This collection goes further in asking how energy is understood as an everyday need and source of negotiations, frustrations, or even break-down in relationships. We seek a broad range of studies dealing with the production and use of energy forms such as oil, gas and uranium, but also hydropower, dried dung and alternative technologies. We welcome proposals enquiring (for example) into the role and views of oil workers, rural consumers illegally tapping electricity, communities displaced from areas in which energy infrastructures are built or small businesses struggling with an unstable electricity supply. Contributions may examine the legacy of Soviet energy policies, the role of alternative energy technologies, borders, development organizations, gender roles and notions of ownership in negotiating access to energy. To highlight the real-life consequences of discourses and policies in the energy, this project aims to bring together anthropologists, geographers, economists and other scholars to trace ‘moral economies’ of energy. We hope to reveal the distinctiveness and connectedness of Central Asia’s network of energy producers and consumers through analyses that also take account of neighbouring regions including Afghanistan, western China and the littoral states of the Caspian.

This call is open to all disciplines. We welcome work in English and Russian, but the final versions will be published in English. Authors are asked to send an abstract of not more than 150 words to the editors David Gullette (davegullette@hotmail.com) and Jeanne Féaux de la Croix (jeannefeaux@yahoo.co.uk). The deadline for submissions is the 28th February 2013.

Please be sure to include your name, title, title of paper and e-mail in the submission.

We would like to bring potential authors together in a panel at the Eurasian Society for Central Asian Studies (ESCAS) XII Biennial Conference in Astana, August 2013 or at an alternative workshop, which is to be decided based on institutional support and funding.