ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests a narrative arc familiar to anyone actively striving to improve conditions in informal settlements: a story that begins with scenes of what people do to secure energy services and the issues that arise when operating without access to improved energy infrastructure. It describes the advent of a major system transition – the introduction of electricity – and suggests stories extending from the electrical box along wires to nearby neighbors. The chapter explores the way different kinds of social relations and energy system considerations, including the sense of entropy that can begin transforming the "transition to modernity" into a more complex, fraught, fragile, sometimes retrograde process yielding mixed blessings and curses and overlapping narratives. It concludes with thoughts about how academics and other "outsiders" might contribute further to the realization of more sustainable energy systems for urban slum dwellers.
