Understanding Wind Imaginaries: Politics and Poetics of Wind Power for a Just Transition

Objective

UNWIND (Understanding Wind Imaginaries: Politics and Poetics of Wind Power for a Just Transition) explores how wind energy shapes collective imaginaries of sustainable futures, while often remaining entangled with extractive practices that sustain fossil capital’s material and cultural legacies. Despite wind power’s central role in the EU’s energy strategy, mainstream discussions largely emphasize technical and economic concerns, neglecting the cultural and social transformations required for a truly just transition. UNWIND will be the first comprehensive study to explore how contemporary fiction engages with these contradictions while reimagining wind energy’s transformative potential. Drawing on literary and postcolonial studies, environmental humanities, anthropology, and participatory science, the project will analyze European genre fictions addressing the link between wind industry and extractivism, co-create speculative narratives of renewable futures with wind energy communities in Ireland and Italy, and collect the experiences of bottom-up energy initiatives working to build a renewable society in the present. Thanks to the support of my supervisor (Dr Sharae Deckard) at University College Dublin, and planned secondments at the University of Glasgow and the University of Torino, the fellowship will allow me to get theoretical and methodological training, add pedagogical experience to my curriculum, and improve my project management and communication skills.