Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin - Sprach- und literaturwissenschaftliche Fakultät - Nordeuropa-Institut

In 1969, substantial oil deposits were discovered under the Ekofisk oilfield on the Norwegian continental shelf, launching an industry which continues today. Besides the impact on local industry and landscape, and the economic impact and on Norway as a whole, oil has also seeped into Norwegian culture. Oil is both materially and imaginatively constitutive and thus we find its reflection across films, music, art, theatre and literary texts. In this lecture I will explore how the relationship between oil and culture is being renegotiated in the current moment of ecological crisis.