Dr. Arthur Mason
Title: Of Expectation and Intermediary Expertise in Energy Development
Abstract: In this presentation I argue that consultant advisory service firms rather than governments
are driving the location, structure, and content of high-level conversations within the newly
privatized and globalized energy markets. Consultant assessments and the role they play in policy
and planning call attention to a subtle but pervasive change in US and European energy prediction
since the 1970s, including a shift in determining regulation from juridical evaluation to favoring
economic efficiency through mathematical models. In recent years, an elaborate system of advisory
service has emerged, in which consultants rank future energy projects through combining technical
prediction with new modes of communicative exchange making available what I describe as a
community of interpretation on a commodified basis. That is, through soliciting the opinions of a
broad sector of industry, analysts have begun to act as organizers of community knowledge for
executives and government leaders about the future of energy systems and the viability of particular
projects within these systems. My research builds on extensive ethnographic fieldwork and
interviews, complimented by analysis of visuals.
Bio: Dr. Mason is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor at University of California, Berkeley, and
holds a research appointment at the University of Calgary in Canada. He is the recipient of several
distinguished fellowships for anthropological study of Arctic energy development, including a USCanada Fulbright North American Research Chair, and the Aleksanteri and Ciriacy-Wantrup
postdoctoral fellowships. Dr. Mason received a 2012-2013 US-Norway Fulbright appointment at
University of Tromsø where plans to work on establishing a research program in Norway on High
North oil and gas development. His activities will include teaching a graduate seminar focusing on the
ethnography of experts; carrying out fieldwork in the hydrocarbon industry sector; and furthering
partnerships at University of Tromsø through grant proposal development.