Daniela Ruß

Professor Daniela Ruß

Small Group Project 2021-22

Energy and Society: Shifts in Historical Understanding

As our understanding of the concept of energy, and its dynamics and effects, have altered over time, the relation between energy and society has been reconceived. The aim of this research endeavour is to map out the history of energy and the humanities by bringing a group of scholars to Berlin to workshop an edited collection of primary sources and short commentary essays to produce an authoritative account of the intellectual history of energy in the humanities. By thus showing the historical mutability of relations between energy and society, our aim is to open up possible paths of contemporary energy futures.

More information

Research outcomes

Russ, D., & Turnbull, T. (Eds.). (2025).

Energy’s History: Toward a Global Canon. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press

Russ, D., & Turnbull, T. (2025).

Introduction: Toward a Global Canon. In D. Russ, & T. Turnbull (Eds.), Energy’s History: Toward a Global Canon (pp. 1-19). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Russ, D. (2025).

The Red Thread to Socialism: Gleb M. Krzhizhanovskii's "Energetics and Socialist Reconstruction". In D. Russ, & T. Turnbull (Eds.), Energy’s History: Toward a Global Canon (pp. 183-201). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Russ, D., & Turnbull, T. (2025).

Conclusion: Pluralistic Energy History in a Contested Epoch. In D. Russ, & T. Turnbull (Eds.), Energy’s History: Toward a Global Canon (pp. 223-228). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

Areas of interest

Historical Sociology Society Nature Decarbonisation Environment Electricity Russia Eastern Europe Critical Theory

Cohort

FG6

Biography

Daniela Ruß is a Junior Professor of Historical Sociology at Leipzig University, working on the relationship between society and nature in a global perspective. Her forthcoming book, Working Nature: Steam, Power, and the Failure of the Energy Economy, offers a historical account of the energy economy informed by a Critical Theory of Nature. Rather than assuming society draws on energies available in nature, she proposes conceiving of the energy economy as a dialectical self-realisation of society against nature's resistance. Her recent research addresses the decarbonisation of the electric grid, the theory and practice of Soviet energy planning, and early Soviet ecological thought.

Her main areas of interest include the global historical sociology of the environment, resources, and energy; electric grids, energy transitions and decarbonisation; environmental and energy history in Russia and Eastern Europe; historical epistemology and the sociology of science and technology; and historical materialism and critical theory.

Biographical details correct as of 29.04.26