This paper proposes to discuss domestication at the intersection of political economy and political ecology, revisiting the critique of adaptationist approaches in the context of the current climate crisis and “green” capitalist restructuring. My aim is to engage in critical conversation with resilient thinking (a sophisticated rebirth of “adaptation”) through the examination of “domestic economies” in the context of climate policies and energy transition (or expansion). The paper is based on empirical research carried out in two industrialized regions in Italy (Brindisi) and Portugal (Sines), home to oil- based industries and relevant energy infrastructures. While these regions differ in their position within the respective national economy, they are both affected by ongoing or complete processes of deindustrialization (coal-based industries) and targeted by the proliferation of new “green” projects (e.g. green hydrogen production) and expansion of LNG infrastructures. They also differ in relation to the scale and relevance of informal economies, while sharing the significant expansion of tertiary sectors that coexist with (and often depend on) the presence of oil corporations and energy utilities. This scenario is inscribed in the context of the persistent austerity that informs southern European post-welfare policy orientations, particularly public spending cuts and wage repression. As a result, both regions are confronted with impoverished welfare provisions and the multiscalar pressures of market-oriented environmental governance, resulting in the growing territorial competition for the attraction of private corporate “green” investments and in precarious labour arrangements. The paper aims at discussing how the interaction of these factors affects household strategies and social reproduction practices, both in their daily and inter-generational arrangements, prospects and aspirations. By doing so, the paper seeks to explore domestication as a useful framework to critically approach resilience thinking in the context of climate crisis and energy transition.

--