Inwards to the centre! The trouble with ‘repositioning energy geographies’

‘Repositioning energy geographies’ reprimands energy geographers for a moral and strategic failure to be visible, arguing this failure has condemned energy geographies to a marginal and occluded position within human geography. It is a bracing and enjoyable read with some provocative observations about scholarly practice. But the authors’ diagnosis is unconvincing, and their rallying call to reposition energy geographers ‘inwards to the centre’ is ultimately (over)powered by their choice of a clunky centre-periphery metaphor. Ptak et al.'s comments on the need for conceptual development within energy geographies express a valid concern, but they yoke this concern to spurious claims about arresting marginality and a troubling yearning for disciplinary centrality. This commentary shares Ptak et al.'s faith in the potential of energy geographies but outlines four reasons for passing up their invitation to turn ‘inwards to the centre’.