In this month’s episode, guest Chelsea Schields discusses oil refining and intimacy, illuminating the social ties and affective attachments engendered by oil in the Dutch islands of Aruba and Curaçao. Known today for their gorgeous beaches and sunny weather that attract tourists year-round, during the mid-twentieth century these islands were home to some of the largest oil refineries in the world. Along the way, we cover topics such as  the role of race and gender in structuring labor relations; inter and intra imperial politics; migration; anti-colonial and anti-welfare movements; the ‘offshore’; and much much more. 

Check it out here!

Chelsea Schields is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Offshore Attachments: Oil and Intimacy in the Caribbean.