Hej o/

My name is Caroline Anna Salling. I research intersections of social relations, technical developments, political power and economic arrangements.

I am eclectically oriented with a particular interest in infrastructures and their implications for ecologies, climate and the subsistence of local communities.

Oversat: Jeg er fagligt bredt orienteret med særlig interesse for infrastrukturer og deres konsekvenser for klimaforandringerne og lokalsamfunds leveforhold.

A question I continue to ask in my ethnographic fieldwork:
*How do industries and communities develop autonomy differently and with which consequences?*

Objects of attention that my fieldwork has concerned so far are energy systems, tech companies, ownership structures and legal frameworks in Denmark, the UK and the US.

I am currently moving from a position at Anthropology, the University of Copenhagen, to a new Postdoc position, and have worked and studied at a range of other universities.

A matter I care deeply about:
—–> Making academic work more actionable as answer to the violence of multiple dominant regimes while nurturing cooperative patterns of practice.

Check out these initiatives I am involved in the coordination of!
Scholarly led open access publisher Mattering Press and Det Grønne Forskernetværk (Green Network for Researchers Denmark).

>undo institutionalised obstructions to the cultivation of curiosity, learning and collaboration

>no collectively habitable planet without radical emissions reductions and major social transitions from dominant ways of living

Contact me at casalling@fripost.org

Email me if you need my phone number for some reason-

I want to write and talk… Some objects of analysis were already published.

(more on the way into worlds!)

>>Academically published<<

Salling, Caroline Anna, and Brit Ross Winthereik. (2025). Inventorying Data: Circumvented Investment Conditions by Big Tech’s Supply Chain Capitalism. Journal of Cultural Economy, 18(2): 266-283. https://doi.org/10.1080/17530350.2024.2436873. Link.


Birch, Hannah, and Caroline Anna Salling. (Forthcoming). Plads til (med)ejerskabet: Det lokale energi-fællesskab inden i, imod og udover det statslige energi-fællesskab. Tidsskriftet Antropologi.


Lex, Simon, Kristin Smette Gulbrandsen, Caroline Anna Salling, and Yair Alpuche Alvarez. (Forthcoming). The agonisms of locally legitimised energy development: A qualitative and collaborative approach. In Social Dimensions of Energy Transition, edited by Ugur Soytas, Ramazan Sari, and Jacob Ladenburg. Cambridge, MA: Elsevier.


Lex, Simon, Caroline Anna Salling, and Kristin Smette Gulbrandsen. (2025). Hvis tid tæller? Lokaldemokratiets rolle i den grønne energiudvikling. Økonomi & Politik 98(3): 76-87. Link. 


Salling, Caroline Anna, and James Maguire. (2024). Industrial Excess: Data Storage, Energy and Utility Planning Before, During and After Digital Industrialisation. Engaging Science, Technology and Society 10(3): 90-119. https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.1943. Link. 


Salling, Caroline Anna. (2024). From incentives to instructions: Climate policy mechanisms on heat pumps, datacentres, district heating, and epistemic collisions hindering decarbonisation in practice. Energy Research & Social Science 111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2024.103469. Link. 


Salling, Caroline Anna. (2025). Infrastructure after welfare: communal infrastructure and the problem of (digital) monopolisation. In Digitalization, Data and Welfare, edited by Vasilis Galis and Vasilis Vlassis. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing. Link. 


Birch, Hannah, and Caroline Anna Salling. (2025). Voices of Green: Videotaped Island Encounters with Local Ownership in Transition Businesses. Journal of Business Anthropology 14(1): 78-88. https://doi.org/10.22439/jba.v14i1.7618. Link. 


Blankholm, Laura Na, Andy Lautrup, Katja Pape de Neergaard, and Caroline Anna Salling. (2024). Aggregating like a state: Discriminatory data practices of legislated ghettoization in Denmark. In Digital States in Practice, edited by Katrine Meldgaard Kjær and Jessamy Perriam. Berlin: De Gruyter. Link. 

Salling, Caroline Anna. (2023). Speculation. In Reclaiming Technology: A Poetic Scientific Vocabulary, edited by James Maguire and Brit Ross Winthereik. Copenhagen:Ctrl+Alt+Delete Books.


Salling, Caroline Anna. (2021). Grænseobjekter. In ANT i Praksis, edited by Brit Ross Winthereik and Irina Papazu. Copenhagen: Djøf Forlag. 


Winthereik, Brit Ross, Irina Papazu, and Caroline Anna Salling. (2020). Mol, Annemarie: Pioneers. SAGE Research Methods Foundations. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526421036934744.

>>Selected “publically” published – probably/hopefully more accessible<<

Salling, Caroline Anna. (May, 2026). Datacentrene − at finde bremserne på techindustriens brændstofeskalerende digitaliseringstog. Klimapåmindelsen. Link.

Salling, Caroline Anna (June 26, 2026). Forsker: Microsoft vil have os til at tro, at vi ikke kan undvære dem. Her er fem grunde til, at vi er nødt til det. Altinget. https://www.altinget.dk/digital/artikel/forsker-her-er-grunden-til-at-microsoft-i-2026-er-outdated

Genstart (June 9, 2026). Techgiganter i baghaven. Danmarks Radio. https://www.dr.dk/lyd/special-radio/genstart/genstart-2026/techgiganter-i-baghaven-11802650138

Salling, Caroline Anna and Brit Ross Winthereik. (May 21, 2026). Forskere: Techgiganterne beslaglægger vores energi i nødvendighedens navn. Altinget. https://www.altinget.dk/digital/artikel/forskere-vi-har-ikke-alle-brug-for-datacentrene.

Researchers from the Green Network for Researchers Denmark. (March 18, 2026) Forskere: Klimaet er fraværende i valgkampens afgørende debatter. Politiken. https://politiken.dk/debat/debatindlaeg/art10768278/Klimaet-er-frav%C3%A6rende-i-valgkampens-afg%C3%B8rende-debatter

Østrup-Jeppesen, Mikkel. (March 6, 2026) Borgerne har opdaget, hvem der får den grønne strøm fra deres baghaver. Og de kan ikke lide det. Klimamonitor. https://klimamonitor.dk/nyheder/loesninger/article18967262.ece

Salling, Caroline Anna. (January 21, 2026). Grøn energi uden lokal gevinst: PPA’ernes blinde vinkel. Ingeniøren. https://pro.ing.dk/gridtech/holdning/groen-energi-uden-lokal-gevinst-ppaernes-blinde-vinkel?1f4e2460cfb84ebe8cd48fb29bb9de08=cxn0cMiYlBTe_MtwDV3imSd50juzsQOyZrV0HVBx6fU&utm_medium=email&utm_source=article&utm_campaign=source.

Leunbach, Rosa Nan. (January 8, 2026). Når Big Tech slår rødder i energinettet. Føljeton. https://www.foljeton.dk/post/naar-big-tech-slaar-roedder-i-energinettet.

Salling, Caroline Anna. (December 18, 2025). Det er ren fiktion, når techgiganter praler af 100 procent grøn strøm. Børsen. https://borsen.dk/nyheder/opinion/det-er-ren-fiktion-nar-tech-giganter-praler-af-100-pct-gron-strom?b_source=opinion&b_medium=row_1&b_campaign=news_1

Salling, Caroline Anna. (March 5, 2025). Postdoc: Datacentrene kan ikke reducere deres klimaaftryk ved at pynte sig med lånte fjer. Altinget. https://www.altinget.dk/klima/artikel/postdoc-datacentrene-kan-ikke-reducere-deres-klimaaftryk-ved-at-pynte-sig-med-laante-fjer

Burlund, Anne. (May 8, 2025).Caroline Anna Salling: “Det er en succes, hvis min forskning bliver politiseret.” Verdens Bedste Nyheder. https://ubu.nu/nyheder/det-er-en-succes-hvis-min-forskning-bliver-politiseret/

13 members of the Green Network for Researchers Denmark. (September 13, 2023). Regeringen afviser al klimaforskning, der ikke passer ind i dens kram. Dagbladet Information. https://www.information.dk/debat/2023/09/regeringen-afviser-al-klimaforskning-passer-dens-kram