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Aftershocks of Extraction
Situating the History of Groningen Gas in the Anthropocene
Series: - Thamyris/Intersecting: Place, Sex and Race Online, Volume: 37
- Thamyris/Intersecting: Place, Sex and Race, Volume: 37
Aftershocks of Extraction explores the history of Groningen gasâa discovery once celebrated as the Netherlands' treasure but now recognized as a source of profound social and ecological damage.
How can the history of Groningen gas help us make sense of the Anthropocene? What can it tell us about the persistence of fossil fuels? And how does fossil fuel extraction impact local communities in the global North? Through personal narratives and research from different disciplines, this pioneering volume answers these questions by examining Groningen's experience with gas extraction, exposing earthquakes, damaged homes, and fractured communities.
The volume innovatively bridges scholarly analysis with firsthand accounts from those affected. By connecting Groningen's local story to global histories of energy, empire, and climate change, it offers essential insights for understanding our Anthropocene moment and imagining more just energy futuresâmaking this required reading for anyone concerned about environmental justice and climate crisis.
How can the history of Groningen gas help us make sense of the Anthropocene? What can it tell us about the persistence of fossil fuels? And how does fossil fuel extraction impact local communities in the global North? Through personal narratives and research from different disciplines, this pioneering volume answers these questions by examining Groningen's experience with gas extraction, exposing earthquakes, damaged homes, and fractured communities.
The volume innovatively bridges scholarly analysis with firsthand accounts from those affected. By connecting Groningen's local story to global histories of energy, empire, and climate change, it offers essential insights for understanding our Anthropocene moment and imagining more just energy futuresâmaking this required reading for anyone concerned about environmental justice and climate crisis.
Peter van Dam is a professor of Dutch history at the University of Amsterdam. He studies history in Amsterdam and Münster, obtaining a PhD in 2010 at the latter. He has published widely on civic initiative, sustainability, and religion. Recent publications include: Fair Trade: Humanitarianism in the Age of Postcolonial Globalization (Cambridge University Press 2025) and The Age of Interdependence: Varieties of Sustainability in the Low Countries, special issue of BMGN/LCHR, 137 (2022) 4.
Marin Kuijt is a PhD candidate at the Amsterdam School for Historical Studies (ASH). His project 'Colonial Carbon: How Oil and Gas Extraction Shaped the Netherlands and its Empire' analyzes how the oil and gas industry in the Dutch Indies, New Guinea, and the Netherlands have heralded the Anthropocene. In 2022-2023, he was the chief editor of the Tot op de Bodem-newsletter (https://totopdebodem.substack.com/), which aimed to contextualize the parliamentary inquiry into gas extraction in Groningen.
Marin Kuijt is a PhD candidate at the Amsterdam School for Historical Studies (ASH). His project 'Colonial Carbon: How Oil and Gas Extraction Shaped the Netherlands and its Empire' analyzes how the oil and gas industry in the Dutch Indies, New Guinea, and the Netherlands have heralded the Anthropocene. In 2022-2023, he was the chief editor of the Tot op de Bodem-newsletter (https://totopdebodem.substack.com/), which aimed to contextualize the parliamentary inquiry into gas extraction in Groningen.
Preface
List of Tables and Figures
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Aftershocks of Extraction
âPeter van Dam and Marin Kuijt
1 Groningen Transformed: the Impact of Gas Exploitation on Everyday Life in the Northeast Groningen Region
âJeroen van Zanten
2 Empire and the Making of the Political Economy of Gas in the Netherlands
âMarin Kuijt
3 From Groningen to Limburg and Back: the Transitions from Peat to Coal and Gas in Oral History Interviews with Fuel Minersâ (Grand)Children
âWim de Jong, Maurice Paulissen, and Susan Hogervorst
4 The Climate of the Cold War, and Beyond
âRuud van Dijk
5 Poisonous Prosperity: the Tilting Historiography of Gas Extraction
âPeter van Dam and Jouke Turpijn
6 Tilting History
âIneke Noordhoff
7 The Closed Gas Building: Public and Private in Parliamentary Inquiries
âDirk Jan Wolffram
8 Justice and New Beginnings in Groningen? Truth, Reconciliation, and the Parliamentary Inquiry on Gas Extraction
âAgustÃn De Julio Pardo, Nienke Busscher, and Tom Postmes
9 Rural Groningen between Hinterland Sacrifice Zone and Idyll
âEsther Peeren
10 CodeROOD for Groningen: Radical Climate Justice Activism Bounded by Rootedness
âHarriët Bergman
11 The Heritagescapes of the Groningen Gas Field: Contestation and Imagination in Negotiation
âGertjan Plets and Christiaan Vonk
12 Earthquake Devastation of Heritage: Spatial and Social Injustice and the Erosion of Historical Architecture
âHanneke Ronnes and Wouter van Elburg
13 Windmills in the Place of Emptiness
âJesse van Amelsvoort
Afterword: after the Inquiry â the Politics of the Future
âPeter van Dam and Marin Kuijt
Index
List of Tables and Figures
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Aftershocks of Extraction
âPeter van Dam and Marin Kuijt
part 1: Retrospects
1 Groningen Transformed: the Impact of Gas Exploitation on Everyday Life in the Northeast Groningen Region
âJeroen van Zanten
2 Empire and the Making of the Political Economy of Gas in the Netherlands
âMarin Kuijt
3 From Groningen to Limburg and Back: the Transitions from Peat to Coal and Gas in Oral History Interviews with Fuel Minersâ (Grand)Children
âWim de Jong, Maurice Paulissen, and Susan Hogervorst
4 The Climate of the Cold War, and Beyond
âRuud van Dijk
5 Poisonous Prosperity: the Tilting Historiography of Gas Extraction
âPeter van Dam and Jouke Turpijn
part 2: Here and Now
6 Tilting History
âIneke Noordhoff
7 The Closed Gas Building: Public and Private in Parliamentary Inquiries
âDirk Jan Wolffram
8 Justice and New Beginnings in Groningen? Truth, Reconciliation, and the Parliamentary Inquiry on Gas Extraction
âAgustÃn De Julio Pardo, Nienke Busscher, and Tom Postmes
9 Rural Groningen between Hinterland Sacrifice Zone and Idyll
âEsther Peeren
part 3: Prospects
10 CodeROOD for Groningen: Radical Climate Justice Activism Bounded by Rootedness
âHarriët Bergman
11 The Heritagescapes of the Groningen Gas Field: Contestation and Imagination in Negotiation
âGertjan Plets and Christiaan Vonk
12 Earthquake Devastation of Heritage: Spatial and Social Injustice and the Erosion of Historical Architecture
âHanneke Ronnes and Wouter van Elburg
13 Windmills in the Place of Emptiness
âJesse van Amelsvoort
Afterword: after the Inquiry â the Politics of the Future
âPeter van Dam and Marin Kuijt
Index
A general audience interested in the history of Groningen gas (there is currently very little scholarship available internationally).
Environmental humanities scholars and students, environmental history scholars and students, practitioners in the field of energy transitions.
Environmental humanities scholars and students, environmental history scholars and students, practitioners in the field of energy transitions.