Colloquium Lecture: March 18-28, Jinan City, Shandong University, Department of Anthropology.




2/16: I went to see Andrey about getting a visa to China. Same person from whom I get my Russian visas. I handed him the paperwork with a required letter from Dan Farber, ERG Chair at Berkeley, stating as per the visa instructions that I was a man of “means and would not become a dependent upon the Chinese Government”. Next, lunch. I required a photo for the Chinese consulate, so we stopped in at a pharmacy along the way. Behind the counter, a clerk positioned me, asking me to sit back, etc, acting quite professional and then, snap. But the photo was a mess. I have returned to my berkeley daze. We (Store Clerk, Andrey and I) had a good laugh with me pointing out that I had a horn coming out of my head, hair just gathering to a point, looking unicorn-like.

Funny thing — that was after having lunch, we stopped by the pharmacy again to pick up the now developed photos — wouldn’t you know it, the clerk photo-shopped my horn away. “I got rid of your horn”, he says. We had another good laugh all around.

2/10: I will provide a version of my presentation to ERG climate lab, March 5. ERGies always offer fabulous feedback. The lecture has three parts, first, focusing on my research partners and why they exist; second, the analytics and ethnography of my research, and; third, the implications for carrying out this kind of research in China, empirically and analytically.

• Annual BASEES 2012 conference, March 31 – April 2, 2012

• Ideologies of Professionalism in contemporary Russian Welfare State

Putting together a paper on my Skolkovo experience. Prospecting here, starting to think out loud, in a casual way, how to approach expertise and government sponsored innovation in Russia.

• Oil Talk: Retelling the Political and Cultural Economy of Oil and Gas — Workshop, April 12-15, 2012

A workshop organized by Hannah Appel, on the occasion of putting together a co-edited volume by Michael Watts and myself, with fifteen contributors, all gathering in New York at Columbia, to chew the fat.

• Arctos Young Scientists Forum, Lofoton, Norway, January 28- February 2, 2012

2/2: What a great trip! We are just a few hours from docking back in Tromso, having completed student poster presentations, mentor evaluations of the presentations and student evaluations of the mentors. Everyone is packed up with their luggage ready to go.

The final presentations were were mock proposals, requests for funds from the Norwegian Research Council. Each project was multidisciplinary and having to do with oil development in the Arctic, following the theme of Arctic Frontiers. Students were mainly PhD candidates and MA students, chosen from various countries including India, Finland, Russia, USA, UK, Germany, Norway, Canada, Sweden, Italy.

There is always a sentimental feeling at the end of such gatherings, a kind of lingering around so to speak. And here, Stig Falk Petersen, project leader, gave such a poignant few sentences, suggesting that members of the group most likely would probably never meet up with each other again but that we had this time together and that was what it is. Here is a sampling of the song/presentation combo. The singer is political scientist from Russia, Julia Skupchenko, and the guitarist is statistitian from Barcelona, originally from South Africa, Michael Greenacre.

Svolvaer is one of the most beautiful places I have visited in my travels. We walked to the end of the cape, passed the fish drying stilts, and manage to laugh about everything on our minds and in our hearts.





1/30: Spending lunch in different places. Working, reading, talking…. Here, we are visiting the Norwegian Coastal Administration Office and getting a dose of how the coast of Norway is managed. What a fabulous presentation, including a discussion in how the government dammed an entire inlet for dredging purposes. Incredible. Great lunch too. There were rolls with shrimp, roastbeef and ham.



















Karen Andreassen, U. Tromso glaciologist and Arctos mentor. What a great lady! Karen and I had such a good time chatting away, living off each others words so to speak. We met each other in Murmansk, Russia, last year at the Norwegian Research Council (NRC) sponsored Norwegian-Russian offshore oil and gas workshop, led up by NRC’s Siri Helleman and Russian Academy scientist, Vladimir Pavlenko. In this photo, Karen is shown identifying the various participants of that meeting for my notes.

1/29: We headed to church for a crazy folk concert that I have to get the details on. What a trip. It was in one of Norway’s largest wooden churches, and part of the extensive cultural program in the course. In this video, I went for the organ music, but in fact, the majority of the recital was made up of vocals of a middle aged bard, with whom everyone in the audience seemed to be quite familiar with, and on several occasions sang along with the lyrics.

We went to the candle factory today for lunch. On my previous trip to Svolvaer, I remember this visit fondly, spending quality time as I was with anthropologist, Carly McLafferty Dokis. It is a long and beautiful drive, followed by a tour of the local art gallery, and after lunch, we hit the aquarium along with other things…




Cramming in so many activities, I can only refer to them by photograph…. The weather was fabulous. In between the cultural activities, we got a chance to exchange presentatations. St. Petersburg State University’s Yulia Smirnova, for example, gave a great talk on Polar Lows, that create all kinds of strange weather patterns, threatening off-shore platforms….

1/28: Having dinner together down in Svolvaer. Here is the mentor’s table…



That’s Michael Greenacre on the right, consumate muscian and statistician from Barcelona. He is chatting with U. Tromso Glaciologist Karin Andreassen, behind her is Stig Falk Petersen, the chief of the operation, and U. Tromso Professor, across from him is Akvaplan-Niva’s Paul Renaud…




And at the student tables… well let’s see…. There’s Ms. Polar Lows herself, Yulia Smirnova, up front on the left, sitting across from Murmansk University biologist, Sofia Afoncheva.

…And behind Yulia is U. Tromso’s gas hydrate master, originally from India, Sunil Vadakkepuliyambatta, and behind him is Canadian newly minted PhD, now working for Government of Canada’s Off-Shore regulatory division, Candace Newman.








Oh Gosh, and here on the left we have Fabio Buansanti, and behind him is the lovely Nadezhda Filimonova, working on arctic gas development in the Barents Sea of all things, right in our back yard…

On the steamship down to Svolvaer we gave talks and went on walks during stops…

1/27: enroute to Svolvaer, just finished my presentation on the boat and I thought it went pretty well. Folks seemed to like it.

Several years ago, I went on this voyage and thought I would never get a chance to go again, but here I am. It is such an amazing privilege and so interesting. We are basically floating along the inside passage on the Hurtingurter Steamship line, talking, eating, sleeping.

We got on board late last night, at around midnight, and the boat departed at 1:30AM





The Scientists…





The view from my window just before departing…

12/28: I have been invited to serve as social science mentor on the PhD field program associated with University of Tromso Arctic Marine Network. We leave Tromso, Norway, by boat and head down to the artist community of Lofoton where we hash out our new science ideas. This is an ideal location and group of folks to plan out new coupled-systems research in the Arctic, especially on issues of oil and gas development, and I plan to provide details.

Paparazzi.Ethnography@berkeley.edu

• Arctic Frontiers, Tromsø, Norway, January 22-27, 2012

• Schedule of Activities

1/27: I had the opportunity of sitting in one more time on the U. Tromso, Dept. of Anthropology colloquium, hearing a presentation on Murmansk Saami ideological distance between indigenous culture and pragmatic life.

Last night was, well, a total blast. I joined up with my forum playmate Torild Nissen-Lie and co-keynote speaking wonder Emma Wilson, hanging out at the Rica for drinks and dinner. Bumped into another DNV heavy, Bradd Libby, who of all things is doing nearly the same project I am doing, but from an industry perspective, assessing how individual leaders influence the debate.



This is Bradd approaching his crab while Torild has one hand on a drink ticket at the Rica. After all said and done, Torild and I scrambled up to the second floor for a final few drinks and chat before waving a fond farewell to each other.





1/26: Thursday. Political economy of oil and gas development in the North. Peter Abo’s talk was perhaps the most relevant to my current thought yesterday morning, on the limited approaches management to oil and gas development in the North.

That’s Emma on stage providing a fabulous job, giving her rendition on dialogue. The evening before, we had dinner at the theater, where I caught up with Nora Hveding Bergseth, ENI Norge R & D Coordinator. She was previously on the board of Directors for the Barents 2020 grant fund, where U. Tromso recently submitted a grant on my behalf, so I tried to press the flesh so to speak, giving it a lift.

Here’s Torild interested in a poster session, holding a glass of vino.

And of course, it’s all about networking, or rather, mingling. Ao I met gobs of people, some I knew, such as the blast from the past, Jen Baesman, who runs APECS, Assoc. of Polar Early Career Scientists, and others entirely new, such as, well… Torild Nissen-Lie, Head of Environmental Risk Assessment of DNV, chatting with non-stop till closing.

Attended the reception last night at the ConocoPhillips suite in the Radisson. A good way to start the evening… They’ve been doing the reception for a while, as part of the ARCTOS network, ushering in the beginning of the Svolvaer Young Scientsts Forum….

1/24: Here we go. Second day at the Arctic Frontiers. And the chair is Elena Kudryashova, Rector of Northern Arctic Federal University in Arkhangelsk, who provided me with a support letter for the NSF project, via Marina Kalinina, who I just bumped into in the hallway….

Oh my lord! There’s Elisabeth Harstad, Managing Director, DNV Research and Innovation, who I met at UC Berkeley as part of the CO2 workshop last year. She’s talking about combining Norwegian Off-Shore and Russian On-Shore experience and create synergies.

I’ve got to get involved in these workshops that Elisabeth is talking about:

Yesterday evening, we all headed over to dinner at the Radisson BLU. Here are a few speakers. Notice how ConocoP sponsor talks quite specifically — a contrast to the lightness of speeches that precede and directly follow:

1/23: At the opening of the conference Jarle Aarbakke, Rector of University of Tromsø & Salve Dahle, Chairman of Steering committee of Arctic Frontiers just completed welcoming everyone here, talking about oil and gas development and how important U. Tromso has been over the past 40 years since its inception to critical understandings in Norway. Now here comes Laila Susanne Vars, Vice President in The Norwegian Saami Parliament is speaking now, giving an address to Arctic Frontiers, speaking in Norwegian, without English translation, so I’m tuned into the Russian translation. Talking about the development of resources and the partners between industry and government.

Thomas B. Johansson, Co-Chair, Global Energy Assessment and prof. at Lund. He’s up now “setting the scene” on global energy outlook and the Arctic. Pretty good stuff really, talking about the erosion of the natural capital, and the continued dearth of providing energy to the 7 to 9 billions by 2050 who are looking for modern forms of energy, affordable, healthy, and somehow avoiding continued climate change requiring major energy system change. And thinking about how to do this timely and without disruption.

Such changes bring lesser values to private investments. How to create conditions for private industry that are good for the world. Talking now about global emission pathways could be in compliance with 2 percent but only 67 percent probability. Okay — finally, we’re talking about energy consumption. The PassivHaus, to create lower space heating demands.

Mike Entenza, Minnesota Governor’s aide, talking about global warming. We had a productive chat yesterday, sitting next to each other at the main performance by Saami dancers.


1/10: Working with Emma Wilson, Senior Policy Advisor, International Institute for Environment and Development, UK, to provide a Key Note Address at the Arctic Frontiers conference in Norway this January.

Emma seen here seated across from UC Berkeley’s Kathy and Nelson Graburn at the ICASS meeting in Akureyri, Iceland, this past summer.

Paparazzi.Ethnography@berkeley.edu

1/21: London was fabulous. I met with Michael Hafner at Deutsche Bank, which was really instructive. He provided me with some materials to consider, in expectation of my moving to London to carry out an internship on oil and gas finance. So I’ve been reading those materials as I took the tube today over to Heathrow and to Oslo, where I am now.



I had a great lunch with Ben Monaghan from JP Morgan, and then later met up with Francis Gugen, at the Lanesborough, which was really instrumental.

There are so many things I should have written. Oh Well. Let me begin from the end. On the last day, Friday, I went over to IIED, since Emma had by that time left for Tromso. I was grateful to have a place to park myself in London, and everyone at IIED was so sweet to me. At first, I thought my meeting with M. Hafner was at 11AM, and I only arrived at IIED at 11AM. Luckily, the meeting wasn’t even scheduled, and we set it for 4PM that day. Who knows what I did between that time and when I was ready to go. But I really came to appreciate the space that Emma works in, especially since it’s located on Grays Inn Road, with plenty of great eateries.

I took the tube from Chancery station to Bank street and then immediately got lost looking for 1 Great Winchester Street.

A fellow tourist, had a detailed map and I found myself in the right direction. Downtown, the financial section of London is fabulously intricate, beautiful, and the buildings are stunning. At Deutsche Bank, there were art works everywhere.

In fact, I suppose, but I did not know this previously, that the Bank is well known for its art collections, having published several books and brochures which were handed to me upon my arrival. They even have a special curatorial floor, with real curators.

And if that isn’t enough, one of the secretaries (?) administrative assistants, actually gave me a detailed description of the contemporary methods for the art pieces on the Hafner’s floor. And here I’m not talking about a simple description. The language she used, the flow of narration, and the multiple pieces that she described (a language unfortunately, I should have noted, but will come to me after my morning coffee) was straight out of an MA in fine arts program degree. And she was wearing a “uniform” of a secretary. Amazing.

Michael Hafner was totally cool. We had met the year before in Oslo at the Oslo Energy Forum. I was pretty straight forward with him, suggesting that I wanted an internship so that I could learn more about how financing of multibillion dollar projects moves forward. He pretty much went through the different aspects of the job, capital expenditures, commodity sales, pre-project development, financing, all pretty much interesting stuff.

I told him that would read the materials and get back to him.

Well, from there I rushed over to the Bulgarian embassy near Kensington Gardens to partake in Bulgarian Dancing. I had discovered the week before that a Bulgarian group meet Thursday and Friday evenings and since I dance on Fridays with Antika Bulgaria, I wanted to check them out. I had gone the night before and was intrigued especially, since I was told that Friday night would be choreographed by Martin Spasov. Wow. what a total trip. I include here two videos that I took of the night’s rehearsal:

In this scene, the women begin with a contemporary-traditional dance that is interrupted by men who perform an aestheticized-traditional dance. Humorous and a parody of its own existence, the originality of these two styles clash and together drive the performance forward.

In this scene Martin Spasov directs the dancers through his choreography. Then, with music, the actual performance begins. As an American consumer, I was delighted and fascinated. Afterward, we all went for a beer at the pub. That was a lot of fun. I got to know the dancers, and several of them had spent some time in the USA and even knew a few folks from Antika.

Lili, one the dancers in particular, and I had a conversation while walking to the subway, where she explained having lived in London 12 years. Wow. I explained my own work and stated that I would be back in March.

 
1/18: chilly and rainy. sitting in Euston station having a coffee, not much different from how I begin the day anywhere else in the world. The only difference of course, is that I battled through the crowds this morning from Emma’s flat through the tube to down town.

Londoners are gregarious. Yesterday while having a coffee I had the chance to chat with Sofie Howarth, who is writing a book about community outreach, I believe, and who after hearing about my work, suggested I contact her brother who works in energy financing, straight away giving me his email address. Back at iied, we worked till about 7:30PM and headed back to a pub for steak and ale, afterward catching a margarita in a local bar near Emma’s where it’s open mic night every evening.

Today, I’m headed to iied, and then around 2PM going over to meet Robert Gugen. Afterward heading over to Energy Institute.


From iied to The Lanesborough at Hyde Park Corner:

From the Lanes Borough to the Energy Institute, 61 New Cavendish:

1/17: My first day in London, spending the afternoon at iied (International Institute for Environment and Development). Gosh, how can I explain everything, what a different planet from Berkeley. I am a complete neophyte to the world. I picked up one their brochures and must have read it three times and even then didn’t quite understand everything. So sophisticated!

The folks here are v. polite and considerate. I have a little desk space, and my mate opposite me is Abbi Buxton, with an MA from LSE and works on value chains. In fact, I just spent the last 20 minutes talking in a confusing fashion, exited and rapidly,  about my reaction to her recently written policy brief titled, Under what conditions are value changes effective tools for pro-poor development?

I was so enthusiastic, but perhaps it was the caffeine from the double-triple shot latte I ordered to keep me awake, since it’s about 7AM west coast time, having just got off the plane several hours before, trodding through London’s tube from Heathrow aiprot over to Chancery St., to iied’s beautifully renovated 5 story building, where down the street there are lovely luncheons, and coffee shops.

Emma Wilson, who also works here as a senior member of the IIED’s sustainable Markets Group is a friend, whose work I admire very much. And I say this, because a lot of times when I blog about a particular site, my thoughts can get misunderstood, and in fact, sometimes, people become enraged with the things I say, even though I am attempting always my best at capturing what I believe is the empirically correct version of my observation.

A few things caught my attention immediately — there are no private offices on the floors, and one result is that everyone whispers when they speak to each other, privacy is created by low talking, and at the same time, I must say, I am VERY much interested in what people are saying in low tones, so much so, that I even went so far as to comment to one of the researchers about her use of the phrase “I will put that on my top priority” — we had a good laugh, although, not a loud one, over my comment that in the good ol’e US of A, the very use of that phrase means the exact opposite.

I should say, however, when I arrived at lunch time in the cafe downstairs, there was quite bustle with folks laughing and talking, exchanging ideas, I immediately felt at home.

1/15: Itinerary

1/11: Turning my attention now to what is at hand:

• Working with Emma Wilson, Senior Researcher at IIED, on a keynote presentation for Arctic Frontiers in Norway. We went through several drafts and it’s still up in the air. Will work with her when I arrive.

• Francis Robert Gugen, runs Gugen Consulting suggests we meet in the drawing room of the Lanesborough hotel, on Hyde Park Corner on Wednesday, January, 18 at 15:30. We met at Oslo Energy Forum. His world is populated by CEOs of oil and gas companies, who serve with him on various advisory panels that oversee global investment in natural resource development. One such group is Barclays Natural Resource Investment or BNRI, which has committed nearly $2 billion in 18 projects. Mr. Gugen is also a Chairperson for the Board of Directors of Petroleum Geo-Services, a Norwegian concern that focuses on data acquisition, analysis and interpretation. On their website, they state: “We help oil companies to find oil and gas reserves offshore worldwide”. PGS provides a MultiClient Library defined by 400,000 square kilometers of “high quality worldwide” three-dimensional seismic data. In addition, PGS has integrated third party data [?] to create what they call the PGS MegaSurvey offering contiguous 3D coverage in key basins. The Barents Sea MegaProject, is one example.

• Ben Monaghan, at the JP Morgan Office located on 10 Aldermanbury on Thursday, January, 19 at 12:00. The message I received stated “Ben would like to invite you to lunch at our office on that day”. Another fellow from Oslo Energy Forum. (A few images on this building came from  John Elkington, who writes in London on global capitalism and sustainability. I’ve sent him an email to see if we could meet up.) B. Morgan is Managing Director, Head of EMEA Oil and Gas. The Acronym stands for Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Quite a region. He was quoted most recently by Financial Times journalist, Anousha Sakoui, on the topic of Atlantic off-shore development in Africa: “Given the global reserve replacement pressures on the oil majors, Africa is a region where they can deploy differentiated exploration and project management capability,” says Ben Monaghan, head of Europe, Middle East and Africa oil and gas at JPMorgan in London. “The sheer scale of the exploration opportunity in Africa makes it compelling for resource-hungry oil majors. Positions in Brazil transformed the equity story of those companies who saw the potential first. Companies are looking to replicate this now in east and west Africa.” – So in fact, while Ben is head EMEA he is also familiar, for comparative reasons, goings on outside his region.

• Michael Hafner, Head of Energy for EMEA at Deutsche Bank, Winchester House, 1 Great Winchester Street, on 11 AM Friday January 20. In Oslo earlier this year, I met with Edward Chandler, Chairman, Global Corporate Finance. He directed me to Michael Hafner.

• I want to stop by Wood Mackenzie Global Consultants to check out, at least that building. Here’s the address from their website: 

Paparazzi.Ethnography@berkeley.edu

In Blue Velvet, film director David Lynch sets a colored fabric (blue velvet) — and a song about nostalgia over lost love — amid a wild set of images that portray sexual passion, mother-child bonds, and psychopathic behavior.

The Blue Carpet at this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (“Russia’s Davos”) framed the Entrance Steps for a variety of flamboyant performances. Business men, photographers, journalists, conference personnel, an anthropologist, politicians, within a moment of lightening passed through this space igniting a sensory experience and thus, a sensible experience.

Like the movie Blue Velvet, the steps set a colored fabric (blue carpet) — and an entrance to a conference — amid a fleeting phenomena of images that portray Russian political and economic power — eroticized “flamboyance”, ostentatious self-representation, fashion and elites.

Paparazzi.Ethnography@berkeley.edu

Above, in the photograph, seated on the left, is Jonathan Stern, with one arm crossed and fingers touching his lips –contemplating the expert commentary of the man holding the microphone – Arild Moe.


Both men are gurus of Russian natural gas development. They are analysts who have known each other — been working with each other — forever. Jonathan, about whom I write in a separate blog, see below, is Director of the Oxford Energy Institute, London. Arild is Deputy Director and Senior Research Fellow, and some say — soon to be Director — at the Norwegian think tank, Fridtjof Nansen Institute, located just outside Oslo, in Lysaker.


I had the opportunity of visiting with Arild at his digs on the outskirts of Oslo, and I’m going to write about our meeting now. In fact, on the heels of that discussion, a few weeks later, while in Houston, attending a dinner at the home of the Royal Norwegian Consulate General, Jostein Mukletun, Ph.D., — his gracious wife Sonia Mykletun (pronounced: moo-kle-TOON), who has been running the Fulbright Scholarship in Norway for some years now, invited me then and there to apply for the Arctic Chair.





The Marvelous Sonia Mykletun, creator of the Norwegian Fulbright Arctic Chair (notice in this image, the size of artwork in the background — forms of distinction making up the time and space experience of diplomatic life — a time-piece Sonia wears, increasingly rare — and seating arrangments, in pairs, facing each other, intensifying face-to-face contact).






In support of the Fulbright application, and as I said, falling on the heels of Arild’s and my unique discussion in Lysaker, Dr. Arild Moe was kind enough to provide me with a support letter for my research in hopes of nailing down the Fulbright award. Of course, at StudioPolar we love to capture the imponderabilia — the little details of events among “high rollers” — as a Calgarian friend likes to refer to such folks, and so I post the letter here as an artifact of Guru Power, pure and simple.

No. 1 — On to Lysaker

Okay, where were we? Oh, right. Visiting the Chalet in Lysaker… Yes. As I was mentioning, I was in Oslo, holed up inside a Hotel near the main square, Rica G 20. There’s an aura about the place…




G 20
















For some hours, perhaps days, I lay on my back, with hands crossed over my chest, in the pine-wood coffin position. An idea came to me quite suddenly, without advanced warning, to get up and telephone Arild off-the-cuff — to inquire whether we might meet. In truth, we had not spoken before, though, I did send him a detailed email to which he did not respond. Also, I did see him from a distance… the previous summer at the Petrosam workshop in Oslo, organized by Econ Pöyry, the “Nordic branch” of the global consulting company Pöyry Plc. The photos above, of Arild and Jonathan Stern, talking about changes to the European gas industry, were taken at Petrosam.


Luckily, Arild invited me for lunch at the institute the very next day, about 30 minutes from downtown Oslo by public transportation.


I hung up the phone receiver and after a few moments, returned to my reclining position. There, I went over the exchange on the telephone. My name, academic affiliation and statements of having received US Science Foundation support to study intermediaries (consultants) involved in natural gas development in the Norwegian-Russian Arctic.

The information caught the attention of my listener. I finished the introduction and waited, silently, perhaps several seconds, and then, began again, this time, haltingly, with gaps and pauses:


“I study intermediary actors…they… They’re successful — in mobilizing expectations among the energy industry’s upstream and downstream communities…. [pause] … And. The complexity and erratic business of gas development in the Arctic… It’s created an economic niche for intermediaries who educate leaders about these spaces of uncertainty.”

And then with increasing rapidity: “And despite the growing importance of intermediaries not much is known about this form of expertise as it relates to Norwegian-Russian Arctic gas development, the precise characteristics of knowledge produced, the kind of influence they exert, or their role in influencing the European gas industry.”


There was a great deal of silence after I spoke, as if Arild was going over the sentences in his mind, rolling them and wondering what’s next, not knowing what my specific request would be. It’s a meeting. To Meet. An invitation To Discuss an Idea.

Arild is calm and quiet spoken. There was not much response really. We exchanged emails so that he could send me specific instructions — which train to take, the need to transfer to a bus, and to walk 10 minutes — in order to arrive at the institute. He ended the conversation abruptly but quietly with the words, “look forward to seeing you tomorrow”.











The soul of a train station: The platform. The feel of time clicking with an almost atomic-clock precision. Every second of delay in arrival and departure schedules reverberates of total banality. And still, a heightened sense of expectation remains over a threshold of departure.

The clock on the platform warning of my late arrival.




Late March and still snow on the outskirts of Oslo.

The institute is located away from a main thoroughfare, in the woods. Walking up toward the driveway, I pass palatial homes, courtyards, fences with electronic security, distance between residences are wide. The neighborhood reminds me of where ambassadors live, or where embassies are located.

I walked along the road continuing past the homes for 10 minutes, just like Arild mentions over the telephone, and conscious now, that I am no longer in a city — where city sounds are now replaced by my breathing and tromping over snow and gravel. There, sooner than I expect, but certainly time enough, the institute takes form, and finally the entrance.























resepsjon





The door opens and I am shown into the reception room. I did not inquire into the history of the building, where the institute carries out its operations.










I was announced — and invited to explore the interior while waiting for Arild….

No. 2 — Interiors

The work of hands.


Imagine entering into a room, and noticing suddenly — without picturing even the outline of a face, the presence of a person — through the image of a type of work they accomplish. In this case, someone earns a living by laying out in an orderly fashion, a stack of newspapers, as one of their daily tasks.



Imagine again selecting one journal, to read. Or flipping through another, and still yet another. Nevertheless, within some shortened period of time, perhaps over the next half-an-hour, each paper that is disrupted, is returned to the table, placed back into an orderly fashion.

Here, as with several offices I visted in Oslo, I became aware that this particular task, of ordering the newspapers daily (hourly), is a vanishing movement, soon to enter into the dustbin of discarded historical practice, forgotten, perhaps without nostalgia. It is a reminder of what remains of an earlier time but that still takes place somewhere as part of someone’s present.


There, the newspapers lay, simply and elegantly.


By its appearances, the building of the Fridtjof Nansen Institute looked to have been built at the turn of the 20th century. The ground floor, at the entrance, there is a spacious hall, a living room with a fireplace, and natural light streaming through long vertical windows. The rooms are laden with dark wooden trim, wooden floors, and banisters.



My first thought from glancing at these rooms was of a nightclub in San Francisco, the Red Devil Lounge.




But also of a dwelling for rock bands of the 1960s, in the Haight-Ashbury area of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, the residences of Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin– with plaster mold busts of famous heads staring out from the corners of the room and occupants slipping on pogo boots, moving their lips in repetition of the lyrics of songs. Who uses a fireplace to keep warm these days?




It was a space of science, belonging perhaps to a former century.

What a contrast to the spaces of Norwegian think tanks located in downtown Oslo, housed in ulta, ultra modern settings.

Lunchtime takes place at the same hour every day, and staff move tables into position in the main room, where everyone sits together. One staffer provides fresh cut fruit. I noticed all of this, but did not participate, as Arild invited me into the smoking room, for a tete-a-tete so to speak.

No. 3 — tête-à-tête …

Now seated facing each other, with the door to the main room closed, I produced from a worn manila folder, a small, shiny 8″ x 11″ hand out, which I placed on the table and slid to Arild. He looked over the hand out, and I stated in rapid low tones all the necessary details of my research. My fanaticism for the idea. Dispassionate ambivalence combined together with a low intensity of speech, as if delivering an incantation.

Arild held the sheet of paper presenting such details as they pertain to the North American Arctic, and began, in a deliberate manner, to compare themes he recognized between gas development in the Shtokman case, of the Russian Barents Sea area, and the Alaska gas play, on the North Slope.

Oil paintings and wall murals figure prominantly at the Fridtjof Nansen Institute. Each room has a theme. In the dining area, a long table suitable for serving over 20 persons is flanked by painted walls on three sides, depicting medieval Scandinavian themes — lords in gallant dress mounted upon horses, children with mothers holding hands, on-lookers, young adults, and elderly masters.

In the main drawing room, the image of communitas associated with the dining area– consistent with the carnivalesque period of the medieval era — is thoroughly left behind and instead, replaced by a period of the early modern. Here, the boroque is at work, with its stern Christian ethic and separation of the classes.

I want to compare these wall images now, for a moment –


I want to compare these Work Place Images saturated as they are, with an intensity of cultural form and temporal depth – to compare them with the image that hangs beside the Night Porter at Rica G20. At my hotel, downtown, away from the detached and cloistered natural environment of Lysaker (a workspace of the leisure class), the porter has his very own wall image, an object of representation for him of his surroundings. This image is saturated also with temporal significance, that of urban time – of train schedules, delays, departures, the platform, labor shifts, and of course, money (i.e., quantifiable qualities as expressions of value) — all consolidated in the image of the Wall Clock. Here, mimicry of gesture and formalism are absent — there is no image of gallantry or thrift through which one can identify and model behavior — as is associated at Fridtjof Nansen Institute. The Wall Clock, offers a form of mimicry according to which only time-space discipline is the theme.























Presidential Timber.

In the room where Arild and I met, I sat directly in front of an image of a man, who stood directly as an image of a tree. Staring at me from Arild’s vantage point, was an image of an early 20th century Scandinavian modern gracing my presence, in imitation of a fir tree.

Arild presented a list of ideas:

• In Russia, power is still centralized where decisions are negotiated in secret (versus in D.C. where decisions are dependent up on three forms – judicial, legislative, executive). From this perspective, the questions that arise surrounding Shtokman do not concern how decisions are made, but when decisions are made.

•  The logic of Shtokman is less concrete than the case for the pipeline in Alaska. Issues concerning arctic offshore in Russia are broader and much more vague. In Alaska, the controversies and issues are fairly concrete. There is a lot of data surrounding pipes, numbers, completion dates, volumes, etc.

• For these reasons above, there is much more uncertainty on Shtokman, and that this uncertainty exists in an earlier state than the Alaska case. Essentially, the Alaska case represents a project located at an entirely different stage of temporality than the Shtokman project.

• In this sense, expertise, an issue that my research is about, expertise in Russia, is primarily concerned with the technical and geological. The Russian research institutes are focused with a clear sense of purpose on this point.

Now, here, is where I had to interject and ask about this last point. If it is true that issues are technical, then what do we make of all the talk by people like Jonathan Stern and Arild himself, on these projects, the sense of expectation etc.?

• We diverted the question to discuss Global Russians, which I had discovered the previous summer from the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, wherein Russians with education from abroad had returned to Moscow and are now working with western financial firms, and providing assessments of the Shtokman project. According to Arild, they have few links and knowledge about the past. That is to say, the overarching decisions are still made by members of the older nomenklatura, all the strategic decisions are their decisions.

Paparazzi.Ethnography@berkeley.edu

Alex staging plaque

I find myself fascinated by the crypto-symbolism of sense making created by Cambridge Energy Research Associates or CERA. As many of you know, CERA is an energy consulting firm and global leader in providing advisory knowledge to decision makers on energy development. It is headed up by the charismatic energy guru Daniel Yergin. I first met Dr. Yergin while working as an energy lobbyist under Alaska Governor Tony Knowles. But that’s another story. CERA has 11 offices across the world so whenever we visit a destination with a CERA office we like to check in.

In Moscow, Russia, we visited Vitaly Yermakov at the CERA office. I have quite a bit to write about that meeting. But before going there I want to pause on the curiousity of this bronze plaque that identifies the Moscow office.

Please take a close look at this plaque, and you will come to understand what is so interesting about the intersection of anthropology and energy expertise. First of all, the plaque is glued to the entrance of a Moscow office building. And, as you can see from the empty holes on each corner — in fact, the plaque was created specifically to be bolted to the building. The use of bolts has a long history and predates the use of glue, which is relatively recent. That is, a bolted plaque provides a narrative about historical time. Unlike glue, which hides between the plaque and the building, bolts provide visible evidence of attachment in a material way that captures the viewers attention.

It’s not unusual to see a bolted bronze plaque in Russia. Together, the bolts, the bronze metal and the plaque –together– establish the mark of a reputable institution in the eyes of the pedestrian, and this process of marking applies widely from hotels to universities. Take a look here:



































“European University in St. Petersburg” as engraved in the Cyrillic alphabet.

Bolts, bolts, bolts (admission: in the lower image, the plaque uses screws).


Nevertheless, you get the message. Using a bolt is Meaningful as evidenced — both, by the drill holes in the plaque and the visibility of bolts actually used to secure the plaque to the building.




So why are there no bolts on the CERA plaque?


It is certainly tempting to suggest the answer has something to do with the building itself, the materials used, etc. — a kind of materialist functional answer. Uh-huh. I thought about that one. So why is it then, that the bronze plaque, directly located to the left of the CERA plaque — have bolts?

Bolts and No Bolts By Comparison

Thus… this peculiar feature of marking energy expertise raises the question: why are there no bolts on the CERA plaque in Moscow?


Can you imagine? The presence and absence of bolts on a Moscow plaque as the basis for developing a theory of the role of Western energy consultant expertise in Russia? At any rate… let’s take a look at the sense-making surrounding the various types of lettering…

Notice that the hotels are written using a Latin alphabet and communicating in the English language proper. That makes some sense. These are expensive hotels often catering to tourists from Western Europe and the US. The only example of a purely Cyrillic alphabet belongs to the plaque announcing the European University in St. Petersburg. And that makes sense, in part, because they are already somewhat estranged by their institutional title and affiliation as a “European University in” Russia — so identification in purely Russian language would seem to soften the dissonance between their institutional identity and the requirement for presenting themselves as, well, a Russian institution (a European-ly Russian institute).


Then, there’s the bronze plaque above — “ЖУРНАЛ DER SPIEGAL” — indicating the German Newspaper Der Spiegal, written in both Cyrillic (ЖУРНАЛ) and Latin (DER SPIEGAL) alphabets.

Okay, this is going to sound a little nutty:

First, notice what the Der Spiegal plaque has in common with the hotel and university plaques. They are all using UPPER-CASE FONTS for ALL letters. By contrast, the CERA plaque capitalizes only select letters of words: (1) the beginning of each word; (2) acronyms in Latin and Cyrillic; (3) the first letter of each acronymic letter in cyrillic that spells out the company IHS.

That’s wierd to me. Another thing: Notice please, that the CERA plaque has written in Latin alphabet the acronym “CERA”. And this acronym has a direct Cyrillic alphabet translation in the acronym “КЭРА”….

….By contrast, however, the acronym in Latin alphabet “IHS” is not translated into a Cyrillic alphabetized acronym, but instead, into the words “Aye Aech Es” by use of the Cyrillic alphabetized letters “Ай Эйч Эс” — This raises the question: why on earth do the words “IHS” when translated into the Cyrillic alphabet lose their direct translation as an acronym but appear on the plaque as a string of words (“Ай Эйч Эс”) that provokes an English pronounciation of the company?

Let me drive the point home: the acronym CERA produces a sound pattern in spoken English as “SERA”. By contrast, the acronym КЭРА produces a different sound pattern, that if heard by an English speaker, would sound like “KERA” — There is a difference in the sound pattern of the English versus Russian lettering, even though both acronyms refer to one and the same company. The plaque allows a Russian speaker to pronounce CERA as “KERA” (and not “SERA”) in the Russian language. Yet, this same plaque demands that a Russian speaking pedestrian create the sound pattern “Aye Aech Es” (Ай Эйч Эс) for the acronym IHS as it would be heard when speaking in English.

As a reminder, we’re looking at the representation on a bronze plaque in Moscow of an energy consulting firm — through their choice of lettering to create an image of the company for the pedestrian, and asking the question, why is it that the acronym “IHS” must remain pronouced in English through the cyrillic lettering “Ай Эйч Эс” — when a direct font translation if printed in Latin script would be rendered “CERA An Aye Aech Es Company”.




Now we have three puzzling questions surrounding CERA’s bronze plaque in Moscow:
(1) Where are the bolts?
(2) Why is there a mix of upper-case and lower-case lettering?
(3) Why is the acronym “IHS” rendered as words printed in Cyrillic, when the acronym “CERA” — in Latin alphabet is rendered as the acronym “КЭРА” in Cyrillic alphabet?







It is worthwhile to note that this staging of the — IHS/Ай Эйч Эс and CERA/КЭРА –formula is not a unique event to the plaque alone, but represents an aesthetic of form, a rationality of self-presentation as seen duplicated on business cards. Here is the Russian language business card of a CERA expert working in Washington, D.C. — notice the presence of “КЭРА/Ай Эйч Эс” on the very bottom of the image.

IHS CERA in Cyrillic type

On the English side of the business card, the Latin alphabet is pure and simple “CERA — An IHS Company”









Returning to the Russian side of the business card, the Cyrillic alphabet appears directly below the Latin alphabet — recreating the bronze plaque in Moscow almost completely in lettering and placement (the trademark which appears on this card is not on the bronze plaque).



























Not incidentally, the business card provides an important clue for understanding the anomaly in acronyms — notice please the following:

“CERA An IHS Company”

“КЭРА Компания Ай-Эйч-Эс”


Do you see it? CERA and КЭРА are both printed in Bold Type Face.

Whereas only IHS is printed in Bold Type Face — Ай-Эйч-Эс is not. What this means is that the logic of Ай-Эйч-Эс is not that of an acronym, according to the company itself. It is in fact, thoroughly understood as a string of words, printed in Cyrillic alphabet, with the purpose of producing the sound “Aye Aech Es”.


As such, Ай-Эйч-Эс is a string of words. On the one hand, the sight of these words does not produce an immediacy of meaning that the three previous acronyms produce. The acronyms function as a hieroglyph — at one glance, we understand what they are meant to signify. Thus, Ай-Эйч-Эс is weighted down considerably. First, it requires a double-step to arrive at the meaning of the acronym (pronounciation and then realization). Second, the time-lag required for cognition dampens the effect of immediacy that accompanies the hieroglyphic sign function of the acronym. Third, the bold type face accents the immediacy of the hieroglyphic function, while the absence of bold type face emphasizes the immediacy of pronounciation function (i.e., “Ай Эйч Эс” appears like every other word that requires reading).

CERA stands for Cambridge Energy Research Associates. If you google the acronym CERA, a variety of company pages and news articles pop up in spades. However, if you google КЭРА, you are likely not to find anything, until you combine the acronym with a word string, such as “КЭРА energy”. So what does КЭРА actually stand for, if it is not a recognized acronym of the company in its own right?


Well, this is interesting. КЭРА is actually a transliteration of CERA. That is, it is the spelling of “Cambridge Energy Research Associates” in the Cyrillic alphabet: Кембридж Энерджи Рисерс Ассошиэйтс or КЭРА (Cambridge Energy Research Associates or CERA). In Russian, it is a string of word-sounds that would be recognized by a Russian speaker as totally foreign, of foreign origin. What this means is that the phrase does not follow any grammatical rule or usage in the Russian language that usually governs over the spelling and pronounciation of words. It is stable and static. It does not decline, for example, when used in the news media. Take the following example, of an advertisement for a job vacancy at CERA:

















Looking at the first sentence, appearing under the news headline and company internet link — there are the words printed in cyrillic:


“Компания Кембридж Энерджи Рисерс Ассошиэйтс, Инк., КЭРА (Cambridge Energy Research Associates, CERA) –”


In English:

“[The] company [of] Cambridge Energy Research Associates, Inc., CERA….”


The point I want to make here is that the first word “company” in Russian (Компания) is typically followed by the name of a company appearing in its possessive declination, something like the following: Кембриджа Энерджй Рисерса Ассошиэйтса.

But here, of course, the phrase remains a transfixed loan word, without interruptions in Russian language. One might say, that it belongs to a category of Western capitalist word formations that are new to Russia, including the transliteration of the phrase “energy consulting” (энерджи консалтинг). The actual word “Energy” in Russian is Энергия or Energiya — “Energy”. It is not “энерджи” which in Russian, has the same pronounciation as the word in English “energy”.


But there is more: Look again at the Russian spelling — Кембридж Энерджи Рисерс Ассошиэйтс


Actually, if you pronounce this phrase from your lips as it is spelled out, what you would actually hear is the following: Cambridge Energy Reserse Associates” — The word “Research” is actually mis-transliterated. The word is spelled without using a ч on the end, to create the “CH” sound. Instead, it is spelled with a с on the end, creating an “S” sound.


A small consideration perhaps, but then why go through the trouble of absolutely ensuring that that the “H” in the acronym “IHS”, is spelled in Cyrillic with the ч sound (Эйч)?

Thus, we add to our original three questions, a fourth question:

(1) Where are the bolts?
(2) Why is there a mix of upper-case and lower-case lettering?
(3) Why is the acronym “IHS” rendered as words printed in Cyrillic, when the acronym “CERA” — in Latin alphabet is rendered as the acronym “КЭРА” in Cyrillic alphabet?
(4) Why is the ч (“ch”) pronounciation important enough to be spelled out in the acronym “IHS” but apparently, not important enough to be spelled out in the word “Research”, when the latter word appears in the Cyrillic alphabet to denote the company name of Cambridge Energy Research (Рисерс) Associates?




And what does this all have to do, we wonder, with the fact that at the front door of the CERA/IHS office inside the building, the sign indicating the companies only refer to IHS?

These differences are beginning to suggest a critical set of distinctions that separate CERA and IHS as the joint company appears to itself and others inside of Russia.

Cultural logics of Western practice –

available at the passing glance of a pedestrian…

Paparazzi.Ethnography@berkeley.edu

A Day in the Life of an Energy Consultant:
A Study in Productive Calm

Expatriates in D.C.

I was in Washington, D.C. attending a party for members of the Alaska Family – persons of high-profile from Alaska, who have since oriented their careers toward securing federal dollars from the U.S. Congress on behalf of the state. Some years ago, I spent “two tours of duty” in the Office of the Alaska Governor, on the Senate side of Capitol Hill, in the Hall of States Building. I was an energy lobbyist under Democratic Alaska Governor Tony Knowles  and then later, under Republican Governor Frank Murkowski. It was with some pleasure then, that I had the chance to reunite with my informants who gathered for a small reception of the annual Alaska Energy Forum.































That’s Jack Ferguson, everyone’s favorite (and some say highest-paid) Alaska lobbyist. All around well-liked guy, he has a way with capturing the mood of the moment. I remember one such an instance when a newly elected Governor of Alaska Frank Murkowski flew to Washington D.C. in the middle of winter to meet with several lobbyists who he had known previously when serving as Alaska’s U.S. Senator. One of the meetings took place over lunch with Tom Roberts, a lawyer for a high profile D.C. law firm. For decades, Roberts has provided lobbying services to the Canadian pipeline construction company, Foothills Pipelines Ltd., who holds critical permits to build the proposed gazillion dollar natural gas pipeline along the Alaska Highway route.

Years before, both Jack Ferguson and Tom Roberts had served, at different times, as Chief-of-Staff to Murkowski while the latter was U.S. senator. Both had continued a mutually supportive friendship. In fact, Roberts served as treasurer on Murkowski’s gubernatorial campaign. Actually, at the beginning of Murkowski’s gubernatorial reign, Roberts was considered part of the Governor’s Kitchen Cabinet, in large part, because that very phrase designating that particular group was assigned during that very luncheon with Roberts — when Jack Ferguson, came in out of the cold, threw off his jacket and bellowed across the restaurant, “there they are, the ‘Kitchen Cabinet’!”. The name stuck and was used throughout the following months to refer to the decision making authority of D.C. friends of the governor and also — as the reason for the lack of decision making authority among highly placed political appointees back in Alaska.

Returning to the ocassion, everyone was in good spirits, and there were so many folks that I had not seen in some time. Members of the Press and leaders of Oil Companies, buddy–buddying, schmoozing, rubbing palms and patting backs, just like ole’ times. Of course, even Alaskans can get on the wrong side of each other, or to quote my favorite Mentor– John Katz,

- “We’ve met the enemy, and them is us!”

John has served under seven or eight Alaska governors, I forget how many now — as the Federal-State Director in the D.C. Office. He has so many quotes to sum up the situation. Another of my favorites, especially in the context of energy legislation: “Success has a thousand fathers but failure is an orphan”.

Here we are. That’s energy journalist, William Murray, Political Correspondent for Energy Intelligence, standing next to David C. Nagel, Executive Vice President of British Petroleum (BP).

David just stepped into the seat at the D.C. Office of BP. But his arrival did not disrupt the position of an old playmate, Brian W. Miller, Senior Director, US Government Affairs for BP, who was also in attendance that evening. Brian and I go back some time, in fact, he was quite instructive to me on several occassions.

I even remember buying Brian lunch at Bistro Bis, a high-end brasserie. Picking up the check at lunch is an important issue, particularly for BP lobbyists who have a habit of over-purchasing restaurant food and taxi fares. It is as if they want to send the message: “you really can’t resist the temptation of a free lunch — watch and I’ll show you”. I have had to think long and hard about these D.C. meetings, and thanks to the inspired wit of James Clifford, I now refer to these lunches as Casually Aggressive Generosity.

On that ocassion, I avoided the BP power moment by giving my credit card to the waitress asking her to just bring me the charged bill directly. I had invited Brian to lunch to thank him for helping me clarify the arrangements for accepting the position under the Alaska Governor. Brian appreciated the gesture and stated that his wife often says to him that he’s “too mindful of others, and doesn’t put himself first enough”.




Drue Pearce, Senior Policy Advisor for Crowell Moring, was in attendance as well. Drue has had such a long and distinguished career in Alaska politics. I first met her when she was a State Senator in the Alaska Legislature. She then went on to become Special Assistant to Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, in Washington, D.C. — That must have been an amazing experience. I remember meeting the Madam Secretary in her office, with Drue, while accompanying the newly elected Alaska Governor, Frank Murkowski, on his inaugural tour of D.C. heavies.

I wish I had my camera on that ocassion! W-O-W. What a beautifully plush office. Frederick Remington paintings of the Old West hung on the darkly wooden panelled walls, photos from Edward Curtis, capturing the twilight of the West. There was a central drawing room that any executive would envy. I had to hold my breath — so nervous to be in the inner-sanctum of federal bureacratic power. On such ocassions, whenever offered a drink, wine or juice, I declined for fear that I’d spill the darn thing and make a fool of myself in front of such a distinguished party.

Drue completed her political appointment career with the Presidentially appointed, and Senate confirmed title of Federal Coordinator, which was an amazing post — and one that is now being held by none other than Larry Persily, former Alaska journalist and political appointee under two Alaska Governors: Tony Knowles and Sarah Palin.

Yup. That’s Larry Persily, Federal Coordinator of the Alaska Natural Gas Transportation System. The Office of the Federal Coordinator (OFC) was created to expedite the construction of an Alaska natural gas pipeline, if it ever got off the ground. Actually, the OFC, is a precurser to the OFI, Office of the Federal Inspector, which was created several decades ago, under President Jimmy Carter, when the original plans for the Alaska pipeline were created. The whole idea behind these offices is to create a one-stop shop for all federal government issues to be handled, so just in case the project does move forward, it doesn’t get mired down in squabbling over regulations.

Wow. That’s Rita Stevens, flanked by Oil men from Marathon Oil Company. Geez. I know Rita from my first trip to Alaska, on Kodiak Island, as an archaeologist, when I was an undergraduate student at Columbia University. Rita is married to Gary Stevens, former college professor and now president of the Alaska State Senate. Both flew in from Juneau, Alaska, for the meeting.

We all hugged, and then went out for dinner, right then and there, with other Alaska politicians from the State Legislature.

Around this time, several months ago now, I was in Houston, Texas, delivering a talk to members of the oil and gas industry on arctic natural gas development. I mentioned the need to create communities of participation, that bring together in one room the principals of energy companies and sovereign arctic officials, so that everyone becomes familiar with each other and understands how to communicate across a broader band-width of demands than what continues to be narrowly construed as, on the one side “economic viability”, and on the other side “increasing local revenue”.

One example of a roundtable meeting took place between Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski and the principals of Alaska energy companies. I believe the mutual understanding that grew from these face-to-face meetings ultimately led to the contract drafted between the Governor and the Alaska oil and gas producers on conditions of a natural gas pipeline project. Terry Koonce, former head of ExxonMobil met with the Governor at pre-arranged roundtables to speak openly about requirements on the Alaska pipeline.

However, when the Governor finally delivered to the Alaska State Legislature the contract, to be ratified, Alaska lawmakers faulted and dropped the agreement. Was it the weakness of the contract itself? Or was it the lack of engagement between lawmakers and principals of energy companies? As an observer, I found the ordeal a missed opportunity.

The need for alliance building through face-to-face roundtable contacts became clear to me while I was having dinner with Alaska’s State Senate Majority Leaders visiting Washington D.C. Seated on the right is State Senate President Gary Stevens, and to his left co-chair of the Finance Committee, Bert Stedman — two of the most influential persons involved in negotiations over energy tax relief legislation proposed by the Alaska governor.


A primary question for me that evening was the following:


Can someone please explain to me how it occurs that on their night off in Washington, D.C. the only non-politician having dinner with these Alaska leaders is a cultural anthropologist? And not, for example, Jim Mulva, CEO of ConocoPhillips who could best portray his company’s long term interests in Alaska and explain why he is requesting a tax break from the state?

To be fair to Mr. Mulva, he does communicate in-person frequently with Alaska U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, at her office in the Hart Senate Building on Capitol Hill, which is where I first met him, introduced to me by energy lobbyist Don Duncan. It was in this moment of our meeting, actually, that I developed right-there-on-the-spot my initial theory of corporeality of the intellectual professional, based on a handshake with this powerful, charming and charismatic individual.

Oslo Energy Forum

Holmenkollen. The hotel where 80-or-so bankers, oil executives and consultants gather for the Oslo Energy Forum to discuss — the future of oil and gas industry.













































The first image hotel guests witness is a wall-sized video screen of female swimmers in bathing suits.













































The next image is a hotel room.

The third image — a workshop brochure and participant details.

An image of yourself is next, as you are nearing toward entering into a room of participants and at the front or your consciousness appears the exorbitant cost of attendance, access by personal-only invitation, illustrious speakers about whom you gaze at with wonder on the internet prior to arrival, the secrets and closed curtain discussions, Chatham House rule — “what is said in the room, stays in the room”, etc. and so on — the emotional impact of an event that many in the industry place high on a pedestal, the descriptive importance of the Forum, gazes into the future, predictions of energy demands, cocktail introductions, the handling and exchanges of business cards, slight of hand gestures, Moet Chandon flutes.

All of this takes place as you straighten your tie or, as in this case, check to see the camera works.

You take your seat among the guests and listen to what will be in store.

You exchange Business Cards.

The next day, you find your seat — listen and engage:

You return to your room where cross-country ski boots await you, so that you can bond with executives on the fields above Oslo.

You unfold your napkin for dinner.

After several days of these activities, you leave for home.

Paparazzi.Ethnography@berkeley.edu

no. 11

Recently, I caught up with Energy Czar, Daniel Kammen — a Hero for our time.


Can you imagine?! He’s been invited to the 2012 Oslo Energy Forum as main speaker, along with Bob Dudley, current head of British Petroleum (who we have yet to catch up with), Helge Lund, CEO of Statoil (who we just met there a few months back), and Lee Raymond, Former CEO, Exxon Mobil, etc. and so on.

“Under no uncertain terms,” I informed the Energy Czar — while raising my forefinger skyward, “can you attend the Oslo Energy Forum 2012 without bringing me along.”

Good Grief! That’s StudioPolar‘s backyard!

Well, we’ll see. At $15K an entry ticket, to go once in my lifetime should be enough. And I should thank here the US Federal Government for thinking so highly of me to scoot me over there several months ago. But to go again. Now that would be the true test of the Paparazzi Ethnographic master.

Back to the Czar.

First, we chuckled over East Bay Express naming Dan Kammen Most Influential Cal Berkeley Energy Czar for handling the $8 billion portfolio for World Bank Group’s Energy Strategy

As a matter of fact, I checked in on Dan at the World Bank Group (WBG) in Washinton, D.C., recently — to provide evidence that Dan was doing just that —  handling the WBG Energy Strategy.

The World Bank Group building is impressive and located in the heart of Washington, D.C.

…I managed to get through security with only a raised brow…

Just as I got my feet wet, we were called back out again, for an early lunch with Paul Isbell, Senior Associate at Center for Strategic and International Studies

Paul is a gracious host.