Spaceship in the Desert

GÖkÇe GÜnel is Assistant Professor in the School of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona.

"Spaceship in the Desert is the fascinating story of a 'zero-carbon eco-city' that demonstrates the stark difference between vision and reality. . . . GÜnel’s first-hand reportage is insightful and objective." - Barry Silverstein (Foreword Reviews) "The book is not only a rich ethnographic description of Masdar in all of its intricacies, but also a larger reflection on how global risks are framed according to the beliefs and situated actions of various interest groups." - Gerardo del Cerro Santamaría (International Journal of Urban and Regional Research) "The global climate crisis is serious, but GÜnel shows that our attempts to tackle it are less so. . . . Our contemporary moral mess, from the GCC to Massachusetts, can be seen all too clearly through the pages of GÜnel’s account." - Deen Sharp (Public Books) "GÜnel’s deft ethnographic sensibilities and creatively designed fieldwork further distinguish her contributions to anthropological studies of climate change, governance, knowledge production, infrastructure, materialism, and futurity more broadly. . . . Through fascinating and critical ethnographic descriptions, GÜnel offers a piercing glimpse into the front-lines of global climate change action." - Gebhard Keny (Ethnos) "Spaceship in the Desert is a timely contribution to a growing field of anthropological scholarship on energy. . . . This book has the potential to attract readers from across the social sciences, not just within anthropology. The richness of ethnographic detail drawn in connection with the work of key thinkers may satisfy some readers." - Idalina Baptista (Anthropological Quarterly) "Compelling and thought-provoking. . . .  GÜnel encourages us as academics and as persons to rethink, renegotiate, and recreate our imaginations of the future through climate change technologies that do not preserve the status quo, but rather, alter it in the present." - Hai Ri (Sophia) Jeon (Anthropology Book Forum) “[GÜnel’s] brilliant ethnography of Masdar reminds us of the limits of the third pilot of Spaceship Earth-the market.... Günel’s study also shows how the scope of climate change demands administrative bodies beyond corporations and states.”- Troy Vettese (Viewpoint Magazine)

• Acknowledgments  viiIntroduction. The Soul of Carbon Dioxide  1Part I. Knowledge1. Inhabiting the Spaceship  372. Beautiful Buildings and Research Contracts  65Part II. Technology3. Ergos: A New Energy Currency  1014. An Expensive Toy  127Part III. Governance5. Subsurface Workings  157Epilogue. The Potential Futures of Abu Dhabi's Masdar  183Notes  199References  237Index  249