Imre Szeman holds a PhD in Literature (Duke University), an MA in Theory and Criticism (University of Western Ontario) and a BA in Philosophy (Queen’s University).
His main areas of research are in energy and environmental studies, social and political philosophy, and critical theory and cultural studies. From 1999-2009, he taught at McMaster University, and from 2009 to 2016 he worked the University of Alberta. Szeman is the recipient of the John Polanyi Prize in Literature (2000), the Petro-Canada Young Innovator Award (2003), the Scotiabank-AUCC Award for Excellence in Internationalization (2004), an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (2005-7), the President's Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision at McMaster (2008), and a Killam Research Professorship (2013). In 2015, he was awarded the J. Gordin Kaplan Award for Excellence in Research, the U of Alberta’s most prestigious award recognizing research excellence in humanities, social sciences, law, education and fine arts. In 2020, he will be the Leverhulme Visiting Professor in Critical Studies at the University of Glasgow.
Recent work
Scarcity? Impasse? Abundance? Energy Transition in Three Parts. (in preparation).
On Petrocultures: Globalization, Culture, Energy Morganstown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2019. 288 pages.
Energy Culture: Art and Theory on Oil and Beyond. Morganstown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2019. 276 pages.
Energy Humanities: An Anthology (with Dominic Boyer). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2017. 608 pages.
Fueling Culture: 101 Words for Energy and Environment (with Jennifer Wenzel and Patricia Yaeger). New York: Fordham University Press, 2017. 456 pages.
Petrocultures: Oil, Politics, Culture (with Sheena Wilson, Adam Carlson). Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017. 464 pages.
Popular Culture: A User’s Guide (with Susie O’Brien). International edition. London: Wiley-Blackwell, 2017. 400 pgs.
After Oil. Morgantown, WV: West Virginia University Press, 2016. 80 pgs.
Courses taught
SPCOM 490 - Media and Environment
ARTS 130 - Whatever Happened to Class?
SPCOM 399 – Communication Inquiry
ENGL 407 – Language and Politics