Mnemonic agency in the Dutch energy transition to gas and electricity

Authors dealing with the geography of sustainability transitions argue for increasing understanding of how innovations emerge and develop on multiple scales. In this article, memory studies is adopted to research the development of technology in the energy transition to gas and electricity within, across and beyond the Dutch household.

This article examines the monthly magazine of the Dutch Association for Housewives (NVvH). It shows that the NVvH contributed to technological innovations by memorizing technological development in historical narratives that encouraged housewives to engage in social relations within, across and beyond the household. Through historical narratives, the NVvH argued for extension of the material tasks of housewives to moral tasks nurturing husband and children. Through the narratives, it propagated the unification of housewives in a community to adapt to technological complexity. And through the narratives, it imagined alternative futures by encouraging housewives to engage in social relations with producers and policy-makers.