Energy Revolution: The Political Ecology of Energy Use in Socialist Cuba

上世纪90年代初，由于苏联解体，古巴失去了大约85%的石油供应。在这个时候，所有的电力，运输，尤其是高度机械化的古巴制糖业都严重依赖苏联的石油。在他的革命宣言中，菲德尔·卡斯特罗（Fidel Castro）曾公开宣称，电力将“覆盖古巴的每一个角落”。增加能源消耗被视为工业化和自动化的先决条件，进而被视为向共产主义过渡的先决条件。国家能源基础设施也将革命国家作为一个社会空间单元联系起来，构建社会主义国家作为再分配的工具。中央集权的能源基础设施允许政府将能源平均分配给每个人。革命前，美国向古巴的公司提供石油。但在冷战最激烈的时候，革命的古巴越来越依赖苏联的资源。苏联的石油以非常有利的条件换取古巴的糖。不出所料，苏联解体导致古巴严重缺乏石油。随后是10年的轮流停电和交通系统瘫痪。古巴经济直线下降，社会主义国家的不信任也在增加。在“特殊时期”，古巴人必须发展新的能源使用模式，并依靠非正式网络来获取能源。这也产生了与古巴国家和发展概念交织在一起的新的能源使用叙述。许多国际观察家很快开始将古巴描述为一个“能源奇迹”——一个成功的“去增长”的现实例子，也是世界上唯一一个实现“可持续发展”的国家。在2000年代中期，古巴政府发起了一场全国性的“能源革命”，彻底改革了国家能源系统。古巴经济的碳排放强度再次下降。然而，能源革命也从根本上改变了古巴革命的政治性质。我在ESRC博士后研究期间开展的工作考察了古巴从1959年革命到动荡的“特殊时期”到现在的能源使用历史。我的研究主要集中在古巴政府领域，探索古巴社会主义项目如何以及为什么变得如此依赖石油，但也研究日常城市家庭生活和古巴工业的经验。它是基于在古巴广泛的民族志和档案实地调查。从更抽象的角度来看，我在跨学科研究领域政治生态学的背景下发展我的工作。政治生态学将地理学、人类学和发展研究联系起来，调查人类与自然之间的相互作用是如何被社会和政治关系所塑造的。该协会有五个目标。第一个目标是在地理期刊上发表一套经过同行评议的出版物，从长远来看，还包括我的博士论文的研究专著。这些出版物涉及政治生态学，能源和拉丁美洲研究的讨论。第二个目标是对古巴目前能源系统的国际层面进行进一步有限的研究。近年来，古巴政府邀请外国资本与古巴国有企业组建合资企业。为了更好地理解古巴社会主义国家的这种新的“国际化”，我正在与欧洲和北美活跃在古巴能源部门的企业参与者接触，以补充早先在古巴的实地工作。第三个目标是将我的研究成果传达给加勒比地区、北美和欧洲的学术和非学术受众；第四，扩展我的职业网络；第五，通过这些网络开发一个新的研究项目。

In the early 1990s, Cuba lost around 85 percent of its oil supplies as a result of the Soviet Union's collapse. At this time, all electricity, transports, and not least the highly mechanised Cuban sugar industry were heavily dependent on Soviet oil. In his manifesto for a revolution, Fidel Castro had notably avowed that electricity would 'reach to the last corner of the Island'. Increasing energy consumption was seen as a prerequisite for industrialisation and automation, and by extension, the transition to communism. National energy infrastructure also interconnected the revolutionary nation as a socio-spatial unit, constructing the socialist state as a vehicle of redistribution. Centralised energy infrastructure allowed the government to distribute energy equally to everyone.Before the Revolution, the United States had provided companies in Cuba with oil. But in the heat of the Cold War, revolutionary Cuba became increasingly reliant on Soviet resources. Soviet oil was countertraded for Cuban sugar on highly beneficial terms. Unsurprisingly, the Soviet collapse led to an acute lack of oil in Cuba. A decade of rolling blackouts and immobile transport systems followed. The Cuban economy went into free fall and mistrust in the socialist state increased. During the 'special period', Cubans had to develop new modes of energy use and rely on informal networks to get hold of energy resources. This also generated new narratives of energy use that interwove with notions of Cuban nationhood and development. Many international observers soon started describing Cuba as an 'energy miracle' - a real-life example of successful 'de-growth' and the only country in the world to have achieved 'sustainable development'. In the mid-2000s, in turn, the Cuban government launched a nationwide 'Energy Revolution', overhauling the national energy systems. Once more, the carbon intensity of the Cuban economy decreased. The Energy Revolution, however, also radically changed the political nature of the Cuban Revolution.The work I carry out during my ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship examines the history of energy use in Cuba from the Revolution of 1959 via the tumultuous 'special period' to the present day. My research focuses on the Cuban governmental sphere, exploring how and why the Cuban socialist project became as oil dependent as it did, but also on everyday urban household life and experiences in Cuban industry. It is based on extensive ethnographic and archival fieldwork in Cuba. From a more abstract perspective, I develop my work in the context of the interdisciplinary research field political ecology. Political ecology links geography, anthropology, and development studies to investigate how the interaction between humans and nature is shaped by and shapes social and political relations.The Fellowship has five aims. The first is to develop a set of peer-reviewed publications in geography journals and, in the longer-term, also a research monograph from my PhD thesis. These publications engage with discussions in political ecology, energy-, and Latin American studies. The second aim is to carry out further limited research into the international dimensions of Cuba's current energy system. In recent years, the Cuban government has invited foreign capital to form joint ventures with Cuban state-companies. To better understand this new 'internationalisation' of the Cuban socialist state, I am engaging with corporate actors in Europe and North America, active in the Cuban energy sector, to complement earlier fieldwork in Cuba. The third aim is to communicate my research findings to academic and non-academic audiences in the Caribbean, North America, and Europe; the fourth to extend my professional networks; and the fifth, to develop a new research project through these networks.