“Coal is Dead” is a phrase often heard these days, and yet it is quite emphatically not. While coal prices are plunging, countries like China are currently building new coal plants all over Africa. Coal, in other words, is increasingly declared dead even as it is decidedly undead, raising the question of what social, political, cultural, and economic processes make this so-called transition so protracted and piece-meal. This class thus offers a social and cultural approach to the protracted energy transition, asking how the study of coal offers insight into questions of history, politics, race, class, and gender. In some years, students may additionally have the option of participating in an international learning experience during Reading Week that will have an additional cost and application process.