Who Lit this Fire? Approaching the History of the Fossil Economy

Andreas Malm, professor of human ecology at Lund University, is one of the leading figures of the latest generation of ecomarxists, with pioneering contributions to the historiography on the link between global warming and the development of fossil capitalism. His book Fossil Capital is a key study on the subject. As an introduction to his historiographical work, we propose the reading of his article Who Lit this Fire? Approaching the History of the Fossil Economy, where, based on the study of British colonialism, he underlines the importance of inequality and capital accumulation in understanding the historical dynamics that have led to global warming. This framework serves Malm to question the hegemonic narrative of the Anthropocene.