headshot of Dr. Petra Dolata

Dr. Petra Dolata

Pronouns: she/her

Positions

Associate Professor

Faculty of Arts , Department of History

Contact information

Location

office: SS634

please email me

Background

Educational Background

M.A. American Studies (minors North American History, International Relations), Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 1996

Ph.D. International Relations, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, 2003

Biography

I am an energy historian with a background in both International History and International Relations. Before joining the University of Calgary in July 2014 I was a lecturer at King's College London, UK, first in War Studies (2007-2010) and then in International Politics (2010-2014). At King's I was also the Research Director of the European Centre for Energy and Resource Security EUCERS. From 2002 to 2007 I was Assistant Professor of North American History at the John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.

I hold a Master's degree in American Studies from Ruhr-Universität Bochum, where I also received my PhD in International Relations with a study on US-German (energy) relations in the late 1950s and early 1960s, which was published in 2006 with Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften (Die deutsche Kohlenkrise in nationalen und transatlantischen Kontext).

From 2014 until 2019 I was Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in the History of Energy. I am currently the Scholar in Residence at the Calgary Institute for the Humanities (CIH), where I also co-convene the Energy In Society working group. I am the 2022 Rachel Carson Simone Veil Fellow at the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society and Project House Europe, both located at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany (Project: Energy Transitions as Lived Experience: A Transnational Study of Deindustrializing Coal Regions in Europe Since 1945). In 2021 I was a FRIAS Senior Fellow (Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow of the European Union) at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), University of Freiburg, Germany with a project on Women in Energy Transitions: Agency, Resilience and Complicity. At the University of Calgary, I am also a Member of ABBY-Net (The Albertan-Bavarian Research Network for Sustainable Energy Transitions).

My current research interests include European and North American energy history after 1945 as well as the history and politics of the Canadian and circumpolar Arctic. I have published on Canada's foreign and Arctic policies, transatlantic relations, and the concept of energy security. I am the principal investigator of a research project funded by the Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) entitled “The 1970s Energy Crises and Energy Security: A Cross-national and Transatlantic History” (2017-2022). Focusing on five countries – Canada, the United States, the UK, the Netherlands and West Germany – I am tracing the emergence of energy as an important political issue and energy security as a powerful story that develop in response to the various energy crises of the 1970s. In addition, using oral and everyday historical sources, I am exploring how people have made sense of energy in the 1970s, how it intersected with environmental discussions and how it linked to deindustrialization in some of these countries. As a co-investigator in another SSHRC-funded research project on Brexit led by Achim Hurrelmann, Carleton University (The Reconfiguration of Canada-Europe Relations after Brexit) and which examines how Canada’s transatlantic relationship with various partners in Europe is affected by Brexit, I am focusing on energy and environmental aspects of the Canada-Europe relationship and use an approach informed by historical institutionalism to discuss Canada - Europe relations. I am also one of the lead scholars on a 7-year SSHRC-funded Partnership project on Deindustrialization and the Politics of our Time (2020-2027). Based at the University of Concordia's Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling under the direction of Steven High, the goal of the project is to understand the deep roots, experiences and long-term consequences of deindustrialization across six countries.

As the co-convenor of the Energy In Society working group at the Calgary Institute for the Humanities (CIH) I am interested in examining how societies have made sense of energy in their everyday lives as well as part of a larger polity and in understanding energy transitions and energy systems as inherently social, i.e. tied to and embedded within other social practice. I am particularly interested in individual energy stories and especially those of women.

Research

Areas of Research

Energy History, International History

Participation in university strategic initiatives

Projects

The 1970s Energy Crises and Energy Security: A Cross-national and Transatlantic History

In this SSHRC-funded research project (2017-2022), I focus on five countries – Canada, the United States, the UK, the Netherlands and West Germany – and trace the emergence of energy as an important political issue and energy security as a powerful story that develop in response to the various energy crises of the 1970s. In addition, using oral and everyday historical sources, I am exploring how people have made sense of energy in the 1970s, how it intersected with environmental discussions and how it linked to deindustrialization in some of these countries.


The Reconfiguration of Canada-Europe Relations after Brexit

As a co-investigator in this SSHRC-funded research project on Brexit led by Achim Hurrelmann, Carleton University, which examines how Canada’s transatlantic relationship with various partners in Europe is affected by Brexit, I am focusing on energy and environmental aspects of the Canada-Europe relationship and use an approach informed by historical institutionalism to discuss Canada - Europe relations.


Deindustrialization and the Politics of Our Time

I am a co-investigator in a 7-year SSHRC-funded Partnership project on Deindustrialization and the Politics of our Time (2020-2027). Based at the University of Concordia's Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling under the direction of Steven High, the goal of the project is to understand the deep roots, experiences and long-term consequences of deindustrialization across six countries.

I am particularly interested in the connection between energy and economic transitions. Examining the Strukturwandel in the German Ruhr region, I examine the lived experience of the single-fuel energy transition from coal to oil.

Publications

  • Canada, the EU and Energy Security: A Historical Perspective. Canadian Foreign Policy . 216-33. (2022)
  • “Women and Energy in the Ruhr Area of West Germany, 1950s–1980s”. Petra Dolata. RCC Perspectives: Transformations in Environment and Society 2020, 1. 51-55. (2020)
  • “Review Essay: Canada and/in the World”. Petra Dolata. Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique 50, 1. 351-367. (2017)
  • “Trump and Energy Security: Revival of an Old Concept?”. Petra Dolata. Journal of Military and Strategic Studies 17, 3. 92-106. (2016)
  • “A New Canada in the Arctic? Arctic Policies under Harper” . Petra Dolata. Revue Etudes Canadiennes 78. 131-154. (2015)
  • “Kanada und die Energieressourcen der Arktis.” [Canada and Its Arctic Energy Resources]. Petra Dolata. Zeitschrift für Außen- und Sicherheitspolitik 7, 3. 301-310. (2014)
  • “How ‘Green’ is Canada’s Arctic Policy? The Role of the Environment and Environmental Security in the Arctic”. Petra Dolata. Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 32, 2. 65-83. (2012)
  • “Drifting Apart? Canada, the European Union and the North Atlantic”. Petra Dolata. Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 30, 2. 28-44. (2010)
  • “Canada – Germany – EU: Energy Security and Climate Change”. Petra Dolata. International Journal 63, 3. 665-681. (2008)
  • Die deutsche Kohlenkrise im nationalen und transatlantischen Kontext [The German Coal Crisis and its National and Transatlantic Dimensions]. Petra Dolata. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag. (2006)
  • “EU-US and EU-Canada Energy Relations.” In: Michèle Knodt and Jörg Kemmerzell (eds.). Handbook of Energy Governance in Europe. Petra Dolata. Cham: Springer. 1-24. (2022)
  • "Women and Energy in the Ruhr Area, West Germany, 1950s to 1980s." In: Abigail Harrison Moore and Ruth Sandwell (eds.). A New Light: Histories of Women and Energy. Petra Dolata. Kingston & Montreal: Queens McGill University Press. 155-173. (2021)
  • "Understanding the Recent History of Energy Security in the Arctic." In: Wilfrid Greaves and P. Whitney Lackenbauer (eds.). Breaking Through: Understanding Sovereignty and Security in the Circumpolar Arctic. Petra Dolata. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. 185-198. (2021)
  • “Sustainability in the Anthropocene: From Forests to the Globe.” In: Geoffrey Rockwell, Chelsea Miya and Oliver Rossier (eds.). Right Research: Modelling Sustainable Research Practices in the Anthropocene. Cambridge: Open Book Publishers. 37-59. (2021)
  • “Out in the Cold? Canada’s Arctic Foreign Policy in a Changing World.” In: Helga E. Bories-Sawala and Stephan Ditze (eds.). The Arctic Is Dying: The Far North of Canada and Québec: A Fascinating Habitat Facing Extreme Challenges. Petra Dolata. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier. 25-37. (2020)
  • "Kanada und die USA: Ein ambivalentes Verhältnis." [Canada and the USA: An Ambivalent Relationship]. In: Ursula Lehmkuhl (ed.). Länderbericht Kanada. Petra Dolata. Berlin: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. 464-493. (2018)
  • "Naturräumliche Potenziale und ihre In-Wert-Setzung in Kanada." [Spatial patters and Economic Development in Canada]. Ursula Lehmkuhl (ed.). Länderbericht Kanada. Holger Basten; Peter Dörrenbacher; Petra Dolata. Berlin: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. 256-287. (2018)
  • “Energy and Resource Security.” In: Rob Dover, Huw Dylan, and Michael S. Goodman (eds.). Palgrave Handbook of Intelligence and Security. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan. (2017)
  • “Energy and Food Security.” In: Robert Dover, Michael S. Goodman, Claudia Hillebrand (eds.). Routledge Companion to Intelligence Studies. Petra Dolata. London: Routledge. (2013)
  • “Resource Interests and Indigenous Communities in the US and Canadian Arctic Since the 1970s.” In: Kerstin Knopf (ed.). North America in the 21st Century: Tribal, Local, and Global. Petra Dolata. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier. 145-60. (2011)
  • “Canada’s Arctic Policy: Transcending the Middle Power Model?” In: David Bosold and Nikola Hynek (eds.). Canada’s New Foreign and Security Policy: Soft and Hard Strategies of a Middle Power. Petra Dolata. Don Mills, Ont: Oxford University Press. (2010)

Please note that I have two office hours per week, one via Zoom and one in-person. To get the Zoom link and for any requests to meet outside these office hours please email me.

Office hours from January 2023

  • Zoom office hour: Mondays 1-2pm (email to get Zoom link)
  • in-person office hour: Thursdays 1-2pm (SS 634)