Arthur Mason
About
I am a political anthropologist specializing in energy security and ecological vulnerability in the Global North. I hold a Visiting Senior Fellow position in the Department of Anthropology at London School of Economics. I am completing several book projects on expertise, aesthetics, and resource development:
Energy Images: Hydrocarbon Aesthetics of Progress and Form (Routledge 2026) draws on affective imagery to convey ideas on the formation of energy planning associated with the integrated hydrocarbon energy system. In this book, I explore how futuristic imagination serves to simplify more complex processes of reasoning so that visuals may be understood as a type of conceptual consolidation of energy systems rather than simply a means for illustrating them.
Consulting Energy: Chronicles of Elite Premium Roundtable Events (Routledge 2025) examines the rise of consultant experts who analyze market information to create energy futures. Spanning eight-years fieldwork supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the chronicles describe my attendance at over 100 executive energy roundtable events across the Global North.
Heritage Sites: Culture in Arctic Late Industrialism (in review) builds on the conceptual work of figures like Pierre Bourdieu and Ivan Szélenyi to analyze the forces that gave rise to the making of modern Indigenous identity in Alaska. I argue that the making of identity and heritage is a strategic project driven by entrepreneurial elite interests to mediate between Indigenous traditions and the pressures to enhance prestige and political status within post-modern neo-liberal American society. I also make clear that this identitarian and heritage work is by no means limited in its objectives to securing the maintenance of elite privilege. Heritage work is a meaningful form of political articulation and communal action.
Arctic Abstractive Industry: Assembling the Valuable and Vulnerable North (Berghahn 2022) and Subterranean Estates: Life Worlds of Oil and Gas (Cornell 2016) are my two edited volumes that bring together diverse engagements with natural resource extraction and ecological vulnerability.
Energy Capitol: The Waning of Regulatory Form (Routledge 2024) is my recently published book that employs perspectives from anthropology, political science, and sociology to explore large-scale energy systems development in the United States at the turn of the millennium. Ethnography gathered at the Alaska State Legislature and in the Office of the Alaska Governor in Washington, D.C., focuses on plans for building a 20-billion-dollar 3,500-mile pipeline to transport natural gas from the Arctic to midcontinental markets in the United States. By illuminating key aspects of federal-state political decision-making processes on energy transportation infrastructure, Energy Capitol highlights the activities of regulatory intellectuals and their accumulated work on pipeline proposals.
StudioPolar: The Registry is my my research portal that explores secondary analysis of contrasting epistemic artefacts.
Expertise Details
Energy Politics and Policy; The Anthropocene; Event Ethnography; Cultures of Expertise; Arctic Late Industrialism
Select Awards:
2021 – 2023 Peder-Sather Center for Advanced Study, Charting the Translocal Arctic, University of California at Berkeley
2020 – 2023 U.S. National Science Foundation, University of California at Berkeley
2019 – 2020 Peder-Sather Center for Advanced Study, New Arctic & Digital Ocean, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim
2017 – 2018 Peder-Sather Center for Advanced Study, New Arctic & Digital Ocean, University of California at Berkeley
2017 – 2018 DAAD Programme, Freie Universität Berlin
2016 – 2017 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship, University of Helsinki
2015 – 2018 Fulbright U.S. Scholar - Russia, St. Petersburg State University
2014 – 2018 U.S. National Science Foundation, Rice University
2013 – 2014 Ciriacy-Wantrup Fellow, University of California at Berkeley
2012 – 2013 Fulbright U.S. Scholar - Norway, University of Tromsø
2012 – 2013 Wenner-Gren Hunt Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California at Berkeley
2011 – 2013 U.S. National Science Foundation, University of California at Berkeley
2010 – 2011 U.S. National Science Foundation, Arizona State University
2006 – 2007 Fulbright U.S. Scholar - Canada, University of Calgary
Publications
2024
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2024)
Energy Capitol: The Waning of Regulatory Form.
Routledge
Routledge
Academic monograph
2023
-
Carson, Siri Granum;
Jenssen, Munro, Bjoern;
Johnsen, Geir;
Mason, Arthur.
(2023)
En bærekraftig fremtid for Svalbard
– er utvinning av dyphavsmineraler
en del av svaret?.
Svalbardposten
Feature article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2023)
Synnøve K. N. Bendixsen and Edvard Hviding: Anthropology in Norway: Directions, Locations, Relations.
Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift
Book review
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2023)
Empathy for the Graph.
Edinburgh University Press
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
2022
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2022)
Representation Without Resemblance: Graphical Expression in Hydrocarbon Industry.
Berghahn Books
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2022)
From Northern Lights to Fluorescent Lights.
Berghahn Books
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2022)
Arctic Late Industrialism: Extracting Value through Abstraction.
Berghahn Books
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2022)
Arctic Abstractive Industry: Assembling the Valuable and Vulnerable North.
Berghahn Books
Berghahn Books
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2022)
Deluxe energy: Newly commodified regimes of luxurious energy.
Academic Press
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
2019
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2019)
Consulting virtue: from judgement to decision-making in the natural gas industry.
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Academic article
2018
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2018)
Consulting Arctic Energy.
Routledge
Chapter
2016
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2016)
Events Collectives: The Social Life of a Promise-Disappointment Cycle.
Cornell University Press (CUP)
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur;
Watts, Michael;
Appel, Hannah.
(2016)
Subterranean Estates: Life Worlds of Oil and Gas.
Cornell University Press (CUP)
Cornell University Press (CUP)
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2016)
Arctic Abstractive Industry: Assessing the Valuable and Vulnerable North.
Cultural Anthropology Hot Spots
Popular scientific article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2016)
Arctic energy image: hydrocarbon aesthetics of progress and form.
Polar Geography
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur;
Watts, Michael;
Appel, Hannah.
(2016)
Oil Talk.
Cornell University Press (CUP)
Chapter
2015
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2015)
Naming an Endless Process of Indigenization.
Current Anthropology
Book review
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2015)
Inside the Energy Salon: Installation and Illusions of Finality.
Journal of business anthropology
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2015)
Growth Imperative: Intermediaries, Discourse Frameworks, and the Arctic.
Yale University Press
Chapter
2013
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2013)
Cartel Consciousness and Horizontal Integration in Energy Industry.
Left Coast Press Inc.
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2013)
Homo Energeticus: Maturity, Inheritance, Identity.
Environmental Research Letters
Academic article
2012
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2012)
Natural Gas Industry Restructuring as Ethnographic Present.
The Polar Journal
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2012)
Corporeality of Consultant Expertise in Arctic Natural Gas Development.
Journal of Northern Studies
Academic article
2011
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2011)
Forms of Time in Alaska Natural Gas Development.
Polar Record
Academic article
2010
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2010)
Whither the Historicities of Alutiiq Heritage Work are Drifting.
Peter Lang Publishing Group
Chapter
2008
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2008)
Vanguard Alutiiq Heritage Practice and the Import of Expertise.
Études Inuit Studies (EIS)
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2008)
Of Enlightenment and Alaska Early Moderns.
Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2008)
Neglected Structures of Governance in US-Canadian Cross-Border Relations.
American Review of Canadian Studies
Academic article
2007
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2007)
Rise of Consultant Forecasting in Liberalized Natural Gas Markets.
Public culture
Academic article
2006
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2006)
Images of the Energy Future.
Environmental Research Letters
Academic article
2005
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2005)
The Condition of Market Formation on Alaska’s Natural Gas Frontier.
Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2005)
Registering Discontinuity in Energy Market Analysis.
Knowledge, Technology and Policy
Academic article
2004
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2004)
Arctic Natural Gas: Reserves and Production.
Routledge
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2004)
Modernity and Decay of Alaska's Natural Gas Pipeline.
University of California Berkeley
Doctoral dissertation
2002
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2002)
The Rise of an Alaska Native Bourgeoisie.
Études Inuit Studies (EIS)
Academic article
1996
-
Mason, Arthur.
(1996)
In a Strange Turn of Events: How Alutiiq Cultural Pride became a Commodity.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Masters thesis
Journal publications
-
Carson, Siri Granum;
Jenssen, Munro, Bjoern;
Johnsen, Geir;
Mason, Arthur.
(2023)
En bærekraftig fremtid for Svalbard
– er utvinning av dyphavsmineraler
en del av svaret?.
Svalbardposten
Feature article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2023)
Synnøve K. N. Bendixsen and Edvard Hviding: Anthropology in Norway: Directions, Locations, Relations.
Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift
Book review
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2019)
Consulting virtue: from judgement to decision-making in the natural gas industry.
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2016)
Arctic Abstractive Industry: Assessing the Valuable and Vulnerable North.
Cultural Anthropology Hot Spots
Popular scientific article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2016)
Arctic energy image: hydrocarbon aesthetics of progress and form.
Polar Geography
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2015)
Naming an Endless Process of Indigenization.
Current Anthropology
Book review
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2015)
Inside the Energy Salon: Installation and Illusions of Finality.
Journal of business anthropology
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2013)
Homo Energeticus: Maturity, Inheritance, Identity.
Environmental Research Letters
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2012)
Natural Gas Industry Restructuring as Ethnographic Present.
The Polar Journal
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2012)
Corporeality of Consultant Expertise in Arctic Natural Gas Development.
Journal of Northern Studies
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2011)
Forms of Time in Alaska Natural Gas Development.
Polar Record
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2008)
Vanguard Alutiiq Heritage Practice and the Import of Expertise.
Études Inuit Studies (EIS)
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2008)
Of Enlightenment and Alaska Early Moderns.
Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2008)
Neglected Structures of Governance in US-Canadian Cross-Border Relations.
American Review of Canadian Studies
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2007)
Rise of Consultant Forecasting in Liberalized Natural Gas Markets.
Public culture
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2006)
Images of the Energy Future.
Environmental Research Letters
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2005)
The Condition of Market Formation on Alaska’s Natural Gas Frontier.
Focaal: Journal of Global and Historical Anthropology
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2005)
Registering Discontinuity in Energy Market Analysis.
Knowledge, Technology and Policy
Academic article
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2002)
The Rise of an Alaska Native Bourgeoisie.
Études Inuit Studies (EIS)
Academic article
Books
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2024)
Energy Capitol: The Waning of Regulatory Form.
Routledge
Routledge
Academic monograph
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2022)
Arctic Abstractive Industry: Assembling the Valuable and Vulnerable North.
Berghahn Books
Berghahn Books
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
-
Mason, Arthur;
Watts, Michael;
Appel, Hannah.
(2016)
Subterranean Estates: Life Worlds of Oil and Gas.
Cornell University Press (CUP)
Cornell University Press (CUP)
Academic anthology/Conference proceedings
Part of book/report
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2023)
Empathy for the Graph.
Edinburgh University Press
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2022)
Representation Without Resemblance: Graphical Expression in Hydrocarbon Industry.
Berghahn Books
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2022)
From Northern Lights to Fluorescent Lights.
Berghahn Books
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2022)
Arctic Late Industrialism: Extracting Value through Abstraction.
Berghahn Books
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2022)
Deluxe energy: Newly commodified regimes of luxurious energy.
Academic Press
Academic chapter/article/Conference paper
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2018)
Consulting Arctic Energy.
Routledge
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2016)
Events Collectives: The Social Life of a Promise-Disappointment Cycle.
Cornell University Press (CUP)
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur;
Watts, Michael;
Appel, Hannah.
(2016)
Oil Talk.
Cornell University Press (CUP)
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2015)
Growth Imperative: Intermediaries, Discourse Frameworks, and the Arctic.
Yale University Press
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2013)
Cartel Consciousness and Horizontal Integration in Energy Industry.
Left Coast Press Inc.
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2010)
Whither the Historicities of Alutiiq Heritage Work are Drifting.
Peter Lang Publishing Group
Chapter
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2004)
Arctic Natural Gas: Reserves and Production.
Routledge
Chapter
Report
-
Mason, Arthur.
(2004)
Modernity and Decay of Alaska's Natural Gas Pipeline.
University of California Berkeley
Doctoral dissertation
-
Mason, Arthur.
(1996)
In a Strange Turn of Events: How Alutiiq Cultural Pride became a Commodity.
University of Alaska Fairbanks
Masters thesis
Teaching
Courses
Outreach
2022
-
LectureMason, Arthur. (2022) Energy Image: Hydrocarbon Aesthetics of Progress and Form. Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics Book proposal presentation , London School of Economics 2022-11-16 - 2022-11-16
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Popular scientific lectureMason, Arthur. (2022) Visualizing the Anthropocene. Department of Anthropology Presentation to Anthropology and the Anthropocene undergraduate and MA course, Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom , London School of Economics 2022-10-18 - 2022-10-18
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LectureMason, Arthur. (2022) Ethics and Aesthetics of Energy Development. Green/Black Research Council Norway Green/Black Research Council Norway Project kick-off 2022-04-22 - 2022-04-22
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Popular scientific lectureMason, Arthur. (2022) Notes to an Aestheticized Economy of Asset Description. Trondheim Academy of Art Expert in Teams , Trondheim 2022-01-14 - 2022-01-14
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Popular scientific lectureMason, Arthur. (2022) Transitions - Engaging Knowledge, Interest, and Critique. NTNU Oceans Transitions - Engaging Knowledge, Interest, and Critique Evening Workshop at NTNU Ocean Week 2022-05-02 - 2022-05-02
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Academic lectureMason, Arthur. (2022) Charting the Translocal Arctic. Arctic Frontiers AS Arctic Frontiers 2022-05-08 - 2022-08-11
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Academic lectureMason, Arthur. (2022) Ethical Performance and Ethical Aesthetics as Cultural Practice. SINTEF Oceans Invited Seminar Lecture , Trondheim 2022-05-25 -
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Academic lectureMason, Arthur. (2022) Arctic Late Industrialism: Governance of Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Restoration. China-Norway Marine University consortium China-Norway Marine University Consortium Alliance Annual Academic Conference 2022-11-14 - 2022-11-15
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Popular scientific lectureMason, Arthur. (2022) The Changing Arctic at NTNU Ocean Week. NTNU Oceans NTNU Ocean Week 2022 2022-05-03 - 2022-05-03