Carbon cultures of progress in history of technology museums

PITCH members Dolly Jørgensen (UiS) and Nora Thorade (German Museum of Technology) have jointly published a new article on history of technology museums and their inherent yet unseen petrocultures.

Using case studies in Germany and South Korea, the authors argue that technological progress narratives in history of technology museums are built on unseen carbon cultures, i.e. the cultural, social, economic and political systems of modern societies which have become dependent upon and imagined through fossil fuels in all aspects of society. They offer three alternative possibilities for the narration of these industrial revolution histories to incorporate environmental history: setting industrial revolution objects into an Anthropocene or climate change frame instead of an industrialisation narrative; reinterpreting objects as material legacies of carbon cultures; and making visible the power behind industrialisation.

Article information: Dolly Jørgensen and Nora Thorade, “Carbon cultures of progress in history of technology museums,” International Journal of Heritage Studies https://doi.org/10.1080/13527258.2026.2625678