We are pleased to announce SustainERA Public Research Talk #7 by Dr Cara New Daggett, taking place on 3 March 2026.
⏱️ 03/03/2026 – 13:00 – 14:00 EET
📍 Zoom
Cara New Daggett is an affiliate faculty member at Virginia Tech and currently a fellow at the Futures of Sustainability Center at the University of Hamburg.
She will deliver the talk “Petro-masculinities”.
Date and time: Tuesday, 3 March, 13:00-14:00 EET
Format: Zoom, the meeting link will be sent before the talk upon registration.
The talk summary and the speaker’s bio can be found below.
Contact
For more information about the SustainERA Research Talks series, please contact Kertu Vuks, SustainERA Junior Research Fellow, kertu.vuks@tlu.ee.
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We look forward to your participation in the SustainERA Research Talks series. Please feel free to share this information with anyone who might be interested.
Talk Summary
“Petro-masculinities”
In petro-states like the U.S., Russia, and Brazil, right-wing movements have embraced a patriarchal order and support for fossil fuels. These pillars of fascism are often understood as separate problems, but in this talk, I will examine how gender and energy are connected. The acceleration of fossil fuel systems in the mid-twentieth century U.S. helped to support a modern sexual order, organized around the heterosexual family and its automobile infrastructures, late industrial jobs, suburban planning, and mass consumerism. The talk will also address how this energetic gender order functions in working class politics, using the example of the ‘Friends of Coal’ public relations campaign in the U.S. Appalachian region, which drew heavily upon traditional masculine symbols to attach communities to the coal industry. The conclusion will consider what feminism offers in terms of understanding the politics of energy transition.
About the Speaker
Cara New Daggett is a researcher and writer interested in ecofeminism, degrowth, and the politics of energy. She is an affiliate faculty member at Virginia Tech and currently a fellow at the Futures of Sustainability Center at the University of Hamburg. Her research, including her book, The Birth of Energy: Fossil Fuels, Thermodynamics, and the Politics of Work, challenges the technocratic approach to energy policy. She also serves as a co-editor of the Critical Energy Studies book series at MIT Press and a co-editor of the new journal, Energy Humanities. In addition to academic research, Daggett has also enjoyed public-facing writing, podcasting, and engagements with artists and architects around questions of energy transition.
About SustainERA
Running from 2025–2029, the ERA Chair in Sustainable Futures project (SustainERA) at Tallinn University combines high-level research with innovative solutions to promote sustainable mindsets and practices. The project is funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe ERA Chair initiative.