Political ecology: where is the ecology? (original) (raw)
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The time and place for political ecology: An introduction to the articles
2008
Political ecology (PE) is experiencing a renaissance and embrace similar to that of Geography itself. Just as there is a rediscovery of the importance of place and thus Geography, Geographers and others are discovering that this critical approach to the human-environment dialectic provides unique theoretical, methodological, and practical insights for unravelling the complexities of this contentious nexus. The host of new volumes that introduce students and the larger academic community to PE each emphasize different theoretical and thematic confluences. This volume is organized around the life-long work and intellectual history of a leading political ecologist, Piers Blaikie, and as such it is both a tribute to that work, and an alternative means to discover what PE is today. Piers Blaikie’s lifework also encompasses research and writing on natural disasters and risk, development policy and practice, international environmental policy, conservation and biodiversity, AIDS in Africa,...
Political ecology is a transdisciplinary research field addressing naturesociety interrelations, often with a focus on contentions and struggles over land and natural resources. Power asymmetries and social inequalities are critical points of departure, and many scholars in the field pursue a kind of emancipatory engagement with subalterns or marginalized people whose livelihoods depend on the local resource base. Capital accumulation and political economy more generally provide the overall framework for understanding such instances of dispossession and displacement of local communities by global forces of state and market. Political ecology has from its very inception remained a rather loosely defined research field. During the last two decades, the field has expanded rapidly. From an earlier largely rural focus, recent work increasingly engages environmental politics in urban settings and addresses contemporary questions such as climate modeling, genetically modified organisms, food industries, pollution, city planning and infrastructure development. The way ahead is for political ecology is to enter into new conversations with related strands of scholarship, like, for example, with science and technology studies, with studies that concern humananimal relations, and recent work in anthropology on ontology and radical alterity. This article aims to give a short introduction to central aspects of contemporary political ecology and its emergence.
Geoforum
This CAPE Inaugural Lecture poses the question “should some political ecology (PE) be useful?” and reviews the challenges and opportunities facing academic researchers wishing to engage with policy makers, politicians, activists, the media and social movements in both the global North or South. Environmental justice provides an ethical justification for political engagement, but an essentially critical and challenging PE can put off research funders and international and national actors in policy making spheres. PE, especially post-structuralist PE, is often ill-understood and distrusted by many both inside and outside the academy, and a critical realist approach is better recognised by many intended audiences. There are many reasons given to resist an engaged PE, especially as PE has been and continues to be associated with “development”. A practical and dynamic approach to engaged PE research is suggested.
Epilogue: Towards a future for political ecology that works
2008
Political Ecology (PE) has been retrospectively created from a history of wide ranging work of different disciplines, cultural settings and epistemological foundations. Its conceptualization was and remains expansive, eclectic and inclusive which has brought both innovative thinking and charges of incoherence. A review of these paradoxical views on the quality of knowledge and its effectiveness in promoting justice and other aspects of political progress concludes that PE can fulfil these criteria in spite of challenges involved in understanding an exceptionally wide range of different disciplines in the natural and social sciences, technical detail and cultural settings. Also, the production of PE both shapes and is shaped by the structures of the academy and daily practice of teaching and research in a reflexive way. There are particular rewards and penalties in academic production which make it difficult to undertake long term PE research, to write overall integrative PE work other than edited and multi-author works, and to engage with wider audiences outside the academy. There is also an enduring stand-off between PE and policy matters. The growth of PE courses in anglophone universities is encouraging more comparison, coherence and communication between political ecologists and promises increasing stabilization and legitimacy of the field.
Political ecology has expanded rapidly in recent years to become a major subfi eld within geography and related disciplines. Indeed, by many measures this approach to the analysis of human -environment relationships is one of the fastest -growing areas within geography, as indicated by the publication of books and articles identifying themselves as such, the growth of the Cultural and Political Ecology specialty group of the AAG, job descriptions, and the declared interests of new graduate students in the fi eld (see . The question of what exactly political ecology is, and why it is so popular, is a recurring one. The fi eld 's eclectic and contested nature prompts, on the one hand, periodic efforts at imposing some coherence on it (see for example , and, on the other, laments over its diffuse nature and other alleged fl aws (see for example , while also contributing to an odd dynamic in which even prominent contributors to the fi eld sometimes distance themselves from the term . And yet political ecology continues to grow. I think there are several reasons for this: "political ecology " has come to signify a very open and creative space for theoretically informed and politically committed nature -society work, allowing scholars to situate their work while retaining tremendous latitude; it immediately conveys a critical stance with respect to dominant power relations; and there is probably some positive feedback, as many people new to the discipline discover that the work they wish to engage is described as "political ecology. "
Locating the Political in Political Ecology: An Introduction
Human Organization, 2003
Recent debates within political ecology have motivated new field. In the introduction to this special issue, we vital challenges faced today, and present a new set of studies that respond to these concerns. We conceptualize power as a social relation built on the asymmetrical distribution of resources and risks and locate power in the interactions among, and the processes that constitute, people, places, and resources. Politics, then, are found in the practices and mechanisms through which such power is circulated. The focus here is on politics related to the environment, understood as biophysical phenomena, together with human knowledge and practice. To apply these concepts, we promote multiscale research models that articulate selected ecological phenomena and local social processes, together with regional and global forces and ideas. We also advocate methods for research and practice that are sensitive to relations of difference and power among and within social groups. Rather than dilute ecological dimensions of study, this approach aims to strengthen our ability to account for the dialectical processes through which humans appropriate, contest, and manipulate the world around them.
"Political Ecology" (An Introduction)
The discussion of issues in political ecology has expanded greatly in recent times, above all as the result of growing concern about far-reaching ecological problems that seem to require an effective political response in the near future. These problems include global warming, ozone depletion, species extinction, desertification, loss of topsoil, depletion of global fisheries, disposal of nuclear waste, global population growth, environmentally-related illness, acid rain, and decline in air and water quality. Concern about disruptions caused by global climate change and the massive global loss of biodiversity has been a major impetus to debates in political ecology.
THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF POLITICAL ECOLOGY
The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology presents a comprehensive and authoritative examination of the rapidly growing field of political ecology. Located at the intersection of geography, anthropology, sociology, and environmental history, political ecology is one of the most vibrant and conceptually diverse fields of inquiry into nature-society relations within the social sciences. With contributions from over 50 leading scholars, the Handbook presents a systematic overview of political ecology's origins, practices, and core concerns, and aims to advance both ongoing and emerging debates. While there are numerous edited volumes, textbooks, and monographs under the heading "political ecology" these have tended to be either collections of empirically based (mostly case study) research on a given theme, or broad overviews of the field aimed at undergraduate audiences. The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology is the first systematic, comprehensive overview of the field. With authors from North and South America, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere, the Handbook provides a state-of-the-art examination of political ecology; addresses ongoing and emerging debates in this rapidly evolving field; and charts new agendas for research, policy, and activism. The Handbook opens with several chapters that critically reflect on political ecology and situate it within the broader scope of nature-society scholarship. These are followed by a section on the practice of political ecology: ethics, methods, activism, and policy.