Imre Szeman

Imre Szeman joined the U of T faculty at Scarborough in 2022 as a Full Professor of Human Geography and as the inaugural Director of the Institute for Environment, Conservation and Sustainability. Before coming to UTSC, he was University Research Chair of Environmental Communication at the University of Waterloo (2017-2022), Canada Research Chair of Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta (2009-2016), and Senator William McMaster Chair in Globalization and Cultural Studies at McMaster University (2005-2009). He is co-founder of the Petrocultures Research Group, which explores the socio-cultural dimensions of energy use and its implications for energy transition and climate change, and the leader of After Oil, a collective that produces multi-authored studies on key issues in energy and environment. He is currently engaged in research on the cultural and social barriers to just and equitable energy transitions, attempts by corporate and state interests to control the transition to renewables, and the implications of green technoutopianism. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and from 2021-2022 was the Climate Critic for the Green Party of Canada.

Publications 

Imre Szeman. Future of the Sun: The Fight Over Renewable Energy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, forthcoming 2024.

Imre Szeman. On Petrocultures: Globalization, Culture, and Energy. Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2019.

Imre Szeman and Dominic Boyer, eds. Energy Humanities: An Anthology. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017.

Imre Szeman, Jennifer Wenzel and Patricia Yaeger, eds., Fueling Culture: 101 Words for Energy and Environment. New York: Fordham University Press, 2017.

Imre Szeman and Susie O’Brien. Popular Culture: A User’s Guide. Toronto: Nelson; 4 editions (2004, 2009, 2013, 2017); International edition: London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017.