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https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88157930734?pwd=E8MBjbqYSybMpXCQi8XoLNUmNLA7Wq.1

Meeting ID: 881 5793 0734
Passcode: 209533

Abstract:

Tracing the dynamics of usage and supply of hot water and heating in Bucharest, this talk investigates the role of heat in the everyday life of urban residents as well as in the organization and governance of the city. Bucharest hosts the largest district heating (DH) network in the European Union, established during the socialist era to provide affordable and universal access to energy for both residential and industrial consumers. Since Romania’s transition to market liberalism, the DH system has deteriorated significantly, transforming the provision of public services and prompting locals to re-evaluate their relationship with the state. This presentation draws on ethnographic material, the collection of which is still ongoing, involving residents of Bucharest, workers of Termoenergetica, policymakers and archival research.  Malfunctioning power plants and corroded pipes mark the cityscape with tangible reminders of disinvestment in the heating infrastructure, such as clouds of steam rising from ruptured pipelines or the echo of leaking water in underground tunnels. The operational failures of the centralized heating system force residents to endure prolonged periods without hot water and heating, inviting a variety of adaptive practices in response. Similarly, those working on the frontlines of infrastructural breakdown must adapt as well. Pipe repair workers employ a mix of resourcefulness, embodied knowledge and bricolage to keep the ‘thermal agent’ flowing, offering temporary fixes to structural problems. In a political ecology no longer resumed to the state as a sole provider of welfare, the operations of the DH system reveal a fragmented infrastructure caught between ruination and collective attempts to reimagine energy futures and urban life.

Short bio:

Olga Bostan is a doctoral student at Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle/Saale, where she investigates the role of heat in the everyday life and the organization of post-Socialist urban spaces, with a focus on the district heating system in Bucharest. In her previous research, she explored the access to drinking water and the multiple manifestations of water infrastructure in rural Moldova. From 2019-2021, Olga worked as a Junior Teaching Fellow at Maastricht University, where she taught and designed undergraduate courses in the field of Sociology, Philosophy, Anthropology and Cultural Studies.

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This event is organized within The Group for Anthropological Research and Debates (GARD) hosted by New Europe College.