Social Ecology: A Connected History (original) (raw)

(CALL FOR ABSTRACT) X Italian Environmental Sociology Conference - (Workshops 1 - Political Ecology, Socio-Environmental Conflicts and World-Ecology)

Socio-environmental conflicts spread globally and put into question the currently hegemonic governance of socio-ecological relations. Such conflicts range from the struggles against mega-projects and noxious infrastructures for waste management to campaigns against the privatization of the commons and their capitalistic use. It seems to us that what these processes make visible is the antagonism between practices of dispossession of human as well as non-human natures which establish new commodity frontiers and the needs of human as well as non-human populations. This fundamental conflict is not sectorial and cannot be situated in a limited space; rather, it affects nature as a whole, the environment as the common basis for all living beings – that environment-in-common which the perspective of world-ecology recognizes as oikeios, as the creative, historical and dialectical relation between species and their environments, hence between human and non-human natures. We welcome submission which aim at fostering debate on the links between socio-environmental conflicts and the reproduction of capitalist socio-ecological relations. We encourage discussion on theoretical and methodological approaches whose goal is the overcoming of the Cartesian dualism between nature and culture from the standpoint of a critique of ruling power relations (with specific regard to their socio-ecological dimension). We are particularly interested on inter/multidisciplinary contributions which are able to differentially combine empirical and theoretical insights in the context of an analysis of extractivist capitalism, of world-ecology and of political ecology. Thus, we welcome abstract on the following issues (amongst others): Socio-environmental conflicts on/against the localization of infrastructures and mega-projects; Commons-related conflicts; Political ecology as a theoretical perspective; Degrowth: analysis, critique, perspectives; Cases of public policies (regional, national, local) supporting socio-ecological programs which are alternative to the ruling ones.

ENVIRONMENT AND NEW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

The relevance of the environmental problem in the contemporary society is mainly due to the existence of new subjects promoting the protection and conservation of the nature. These new entities are outside of the old ideological identification, especially when compared to the historical context like that of Europe or United States, India, and Africa. These new subjects of political and civil action are organized in complex, not classical formulas. They take part in the social conflict in the form of widespread, planetary claims and show, at the same time, a high fragility. The central conflict of the modern society appears that sustained by a party in the struggle against the dominance of the market and technologies and the authoritarian powers. This cultural conflict is now central, and so the economic conflict between industrial society and politics dominated the early centuries of our modernity. In this context, the concept of social movement shows its strong interest and highlights the existence of a specific kind of collective action. A form of social domination and / or social power referred against the general guidelines / society represents this. By reversing this latest formulation, we also recognize the existence of movements supported by the dominant classes and / or directed against the popular classes; these latter are seen as an obstacle to the social integration and economic progress. In both cases, the social movement is more than a simple group of interests or an instrument of political pressure, but it involves the rules governing the use of social resources and different cultural models.

Venturini, F., Değirmenci, E. and Morales-Bernardos, I. 2019. Introduction In: Venturini, F., Değirmenci, E. and Morales-Bernardos, I. eds. Social Ecology and the Right to the City: Towards Ecological and Democratic Cities. Montreal: Black Rose books, 1-11.

Social Ecology and the Right to the City: Towards Ecological and Democratic Cities

This volume arose from proceedings of the conference The Right to the City and Social Ecology—Towards Ecological and Democratic Cities, held in Thessaloniki 1–3 September, 2017. The conference was organized by the Transnational Institute of Social Ecology (TRISE). TRISE is an association of activists and intellectuals based in Europe, who are concerned with current socio-ecological crises. It was founded in Greece in 2013 and focuses on research, education, and training. The asso- ciation initiates, supports and facilitates research on social ecology, urban social movements, and the democratization of society. Historically, its inspi- ration can be traced to Vermont, US, where the Institute for Social Ecology was co-founded by Murray Bookchin and Dan Chodorkoff in 1974. At the heart of the organization’s mission lies the theory of social ecology. Multiple definitions of social ecology exist. However, TRISE largely follows the innovative philosophy of Murray Bookchin, as well as other writers and activists who developed his work. TRISE aims to foster and develop social ecological analysis and practice that can be adopted for the struggles to come. This book answers this call, exploring the contemporary discourse surrounding urban rights—the right to the city—and presents a selection of new essays on social ecology. This volume seeks to bring the ideas of social ecology into conversation with the worldwide call for the right to the city, thereby challenging and extending existing discussions on both topics in a fruitful cross-fertilization. Theories and practices need to be discovered, engaged with, and transformed in order to build an effective culture of resistance.

The Coming Ecological Revolution: The Principles and Politics of a Social and Moral Ecology

2011

THE COMING ECOLOGICAL REVOLUTION This book has now been published and is available for purchase. Abstract Part 1 The Emerging Ecological Consciousness This part connects the contemporary environmental crisis with the wider societal crisis. The environmental crisis is considered to be the product of a wider system failure. The perspective taken is that one civilisation is in the process of decay and another in the process of emerging. A fundamental critical self-examination of ourselves and our communities of struggle is necessary to locate and situate the choices, possibilities and strategies with respect to the circumscribed options within the system and the feasible alternatives to that system. This part examines the nature of the environmental crisis, paying particular attention to climate change and global poverty and inequality. Social and environmental justice are shown to be mutually supportive, the low-carbon economy which is a condition of the survival of civilised life also being socially just, egalitarian and democratic. The emergence of an ecological consciousness is shown to be part of the process of revolutionizing society, restructuring power, changing culture and emphasising the quality of individual lives over the quantity of material accumulation and possession. Part 2 The Coming Revolution in Economic Thought The environmental crisis is related to the crisis in economic thought and practice. The crisis in vision in economics is related to the economic system in general. This part exposes economics to be an ideology in the critical sense, that is, as not knowledge as such but a distorted knowledge concerning appearances which serves to conceal contradictions, material interests and power relations to the benefit of the dominant class. Conventional economics treats ‘the economy’ as an abstraction which functions independently of the political, social, moral and ecological context. This part restores economics to its true status as a means. Part of dealing with the future orientated problem of ecology involves examining in what direction economic thought must go in order to once more become relevant to human beings. The ecological problem is related to the globalisation of economic relations and the ‘free market’ economy. A distinction is made between price and value to reassert use value embedded in communities to the exchange value pursued on the market. The question of morality within market societies is addressed in terms of the need to secure the building blocks of a viable civilisation. The view is taken that the individual of Anglo-American liberalism an abstraction of market relations, a fictional person who exists only in the figure of homo economicus. Real individuals are shown to exist and flourish within a social matrix of reciprocal relations and trust. Part 3 Society as a Learning Mechanism Notions of knowledge and social transformation need to be reworked to take account of genuine change as a process rather than as event. It is a process because the new society only functions and flourishes if the individuals constituting it have developed their moral, political, intellectual and organisational capacities. In this sense, a social and ecological praxis is a form of capacity building which develops the know-how required to constitute the new social order. The argument draws upon the emergence of grass roots organisations and community organisations across the world and seeks to value the contributions that social movements can make not only to social provision but to urban governance. This part is organised around concerns for community, communication and the common good. Part 4 Political Philosophy and Ethics This part examines the emancipatory potentialities of reason and freedom to constitute the good life for human beings. The argument considers politics as creative human self-realisation to possess an ineliminable normative dimension concerning the appropriate regiment for the good. Green political theory is analysed in the context of a philosophical concept of ‘rational freedom’ drawn from the work of Aristotle, Plato, Rousseau, Kant and Hegel. Part 5 Ecological Praxis This part goes from principles to practice to examine how the emerging ecological consciousness can be embedded in social practices and institutions. This is a question not only of how the ecological society can be created, but governed and made to work. This part looks at critical political issues and constructive models, identifies key tasks in organising for political change. Particular attention is paid to the political boundaries of change and the changing boundaries of politics. Part 6 Environmentalism as Politics This part argues that realising the potential for a new ecological modus vivendi requires a new set of political practices and institutions. These practices and institutions affirm the co-construction of nature and culture through the practical reappropriation of the human powers alienated to the state and capital and the common control and comprehension of these powers as social powers. This creates the foundation for a renewal of public agency within public life and for popular identification with environmental and related public policies. This part pays particular attention to the notion of community self-regulation. To keep the above and the below in an interactive, organic fusion means going back to the grassroots and tapping into the social and human and natural roots that feed a genuinely Green politics. This requires that Greens start organising, campaigning and talking face to face, door to door, street to street, building a Green social identity neighbourhood by neighbourhood, community by community. A functioning social order requires extensive public spaces for social learning and cognitive praxis. A public life worthy of the name creates opportunities for citizen discourse and interaction, a civic solidarity in which citizens share social knowledge, discussing freely and critically the issues of common concern, the problems that confront all individuals collectively within communities and societies. Effective political engagement on the part of new and environmental movements is also an involvement in a public life on the part of individuals who have an "ecological consciousness". To nurture this ecological sensibility so that it contributes to cultural transformation requires a number of supportive conditions and social innovations generated by ecological praxis.

Introduction: beyond anthropocentrism, changing practices and the politics of 'nature.' By Alexander Koensler and Cristina Papa. Pp 286-294.

In this introduction to a Special Section, we outline three recent interrelated research tendencies with regard to how to understand the practices and politics of 'nature': 1) a major attention towards non-anthropocentric environmental ideologies; 2) more complex analyses of environmental movements; and finally, 3) attention to unconventional every-day practices of environmental justice. In all three tendencies, we argue, a renewed attention to socio-economic power relations of the wider context becomes crucial for a better understanding of environmental dynamics. Ethnographically engaged studies from the European context offer examples of how it becomes possible to assess the impact of new grass-root practices, to pay attention to good micro-practices, and understand the unexpected outcomes of the engagement with nature. Dans cette introduction trois tendances de la recherche en référence aux pratiques et politiques de la «nature» sont mis en évidence: 1) une plus grande attention à des idéologies non-anthropocentriques 2) une analyse plus complexe des mouvements environnementaux 3) l'attention aux pratiques quotidiennes non- conventionnelles pour la justice environnementale. Il est souligné que l'émergence d'une écologie politique qui accorde une attention croissante aux relations de pouvoir socio-économique dans un contexte large permets une meilleure compréhension de la dynamique de l'environnement dans les trois tendances de recherche. des études ethnographiquement engagé de contexte européen offre des exemples de la façon dont il est possible d'évaluer l'impact de nouvelles pratiques des études ethnographiques engagés de l'offre des exemples de contexte européen de la façon dont il est possible d'évaluer l'impact de nouvelles pratiques de base, de prêter attention aux bonnes micro-pratiques et comprendre les résultats inattendus de l'engagement avec la nature. In questa introduzione vengono evidenziate tre recenti tendenze di ricerca in riferimento alle pratiche e alle politiche della "natura": 1) una maggiore attenzione nei riguardi delle ideologie non antropocentriche 2) analisi più complesse dei movimenti ambientalisti, e infine 3) attenzione a pratiche quotidiane non convenzionali di giustizia ambientale. Viene sottolineato come per una migliore comprensione delle dinamiche ambientali diventi cruciale in tutte le tre tendenze, l’affermarsi di una ecologia politica che presti attenzione alle relazioni di potere socioeconomico in un più ampio contesto. Studi etnografici europei offrono esempi concreti come diventa possibile di comprendere l’impatto delle nuove pratiche dal basso, incentivare delle pratiche buone e analizzare le conseguenze spesso imprevedibili dei tentativi di proteggere l’ambiente.

Germán A. Quimbayo Ruiz. 2018. "People and urban nature: the environmentalization of social movements in Bogotá," Journal of Political Ecology 25: 525-547.

Using research conducted in Bogotá, Colombia, I discuss in this article how urban nature has been used as a vehicle by social movements to contest urban commons. The article explores the "environmentalization" of strategies and repertoires of social movements in urban struggles dating back to the 1980s, which developed in parallel with public urban planning debates. In recent years these were nurtured in turn by environmental discourse in a quest to change the city's growth paradigm. I suggest that the legitimacy of knowledge and law about urban nature advocacy is co-created by communities confronting institutions that are supposed to represent state power. This case study analyses conceptualizations of urban nature in and from Latin America, and shows that urban politics and environmental issues are part of a process in which political mobilization is a key element to overcome socio-ecological inequalities. Dans cet article, je discute de la manière dont la nature urbaine a été utilisée par les mouvements sociaux pour contester les biens communs urbains. À l'aide de recherches menées à Bogotá, en Colombie, l'article explore "l'environnementalisation" des stratégies et répertoires des mouvements sociaux dans les luttes urbaines des années 1980, qui s'est développée parallèlement aux débats publics sur l'urbanisme. Au cours des dernières années, le discours sur l'environnement s'est inspiré de ces discours pour tenter de changer le paradigme de la croissance de la ville. Je suggère que la légitimité du savoir et du droit en matière de défense de la nature urbaine soit co-créée par les communautés confrontées aux institutions censées représenter le pouvoir de l'État. Cette étude de cas analyse les conceptualisations de la nature urbaine en Amérique latine et à partir de celles-ci. Il montre que la politique urbaine et les problèmes environnementaux font partie d'un processus dans lequel la mobilisation politique est un élément clé pour surmonter les inégalités socio-écologiques. A través de una investigación llevada a cabo en Bogotá, Colombia, en este artículo argumento cómo la naturaleza urbana ha sido usada como un vehículo por movimientos sociales en la lucha por los comunes urbanos. El artículo explora la ambientalización de estrategias y repertorios de los movimientos sociales en luchas urbanas que se remontan hacia la década de 1980, en paralelo con debates públicos de planeación urbana. Aquellos debates, a su vez, fueron enriquecidos en años recientes con el discurso ambiental como una apuesta para cambiar el paradigma del modelo de crecimiento de ciudad. En el artículo también sugiero cómo la legitimidad del conocimiento y la ley sobre la defensa de la naturaleza urbana es co-creada por las comunidades que confrontan las instituciones que se supone representan el poder estatal. Este estudio de caso es una contribución para traer juntas conceptualizaciones acerca de la naturaleza urbana en y desde América Latina. Asimismo, la investigación ofrece algunas lecciones sobre cómo la política urbana y las preocupaciones ambientales son parte un mutuo proceso en donde la movilización política es un elemento clave para superar desigualdades socio-ecológicas.

How the non-human turn challenges the social sciences The case of environmental struggles at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, France

Territories, Environments, Politics edited by Brighenti & Kärrholm, 2022

This thoughtful and rich volume is edited by two of today's foremost scholars of territoriality and the city. It offers a novel re-visioning of issues of territorial complexity and a wide range of urban examples of spatialised social life across different scales and cultural contexts. A very timely and highly original publication that will be a source of inspiration both for researchers and practitioners across disciplines." Albena Yaneva, University of Manchester, UK "As evinced by the scope and depth of the contributions to this volume, Kärrholm and Brighenti's program for a 'non-reductive territoriology' offers a nuanced and sophisticated understanding of territories which promises to provide inspiration and creative openings for groundbreaking research on the nature and implications of territorialization process and practices for many years to come." Jonathan Metzger, KTH Stockholm, Sweden "In times of dramatic planetary changes, it is all the more urgent to reflect on the ontological grounds that orient thinking, sensing, and acting in the world. This volume is a convincing move in this direction. Against the grain of decades of reductionist and politically ambiguous interpretations, Brighenti and Kärrholm prompt us to rethink what territories are, how are they made and by whom, by drawing the lineaments of an original Science of Territory that is transversal to hard and soft science, art, politics, and the everyday. This transdisciplinary ambition is reflected on the impressive theoretical, empirical, and methodological diversity of the original contributions that compose the publication, making it an invaluable tool for conjuring new ways of speculating, researching and imagining the material complexity of socio-natural life."

Socio-Environmental Rights and the Riddle of History

Revista da Faculdade de Direito da UFG, 2018

Broadly speaking, this paper is about the relationship of the human rights tradition to substantive issues of social justice, including class exploitation and environmental destruction. These themes I take to be of global concern, but I will examine them today as they arise from conflicts and struggles situated in Brazil. The key to the argument is to show that the human rights tradition recognizes necessary features of self-determination, and that claims for socio-environmental rights in Brazil and elsewhere derive their legitimacy from the same kind of argument that justifies individual rights, such as the 1948 United Nations Declaration, and collective rights, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of 1966 and the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples of 2007. That is, I will try to show that individual, collective and socio-environmental rights are each necessary conditions but, on their own, insufficient conditions for the possibility of selfdetermination. The need for such rights emerges in the history of the struggle for justice. This this paper will also defend the claim that the universality of rights necessarily emerges from the historicity of social life and solves what Marx calls the "riddle of history." Keywords : Socio-enviromental rights; riddle of history. Resumo: De um modo geral, este artigo trata da relação da tradição dos direitos humanos com questões substantivas de justiça social, incluindo a exploração de classes e a destruição ambiental. Esses temas são de interesse global, mas vou examiná-los hoje, pois eles surgem de conflitos e lutas no Brasil. A chave do argumento é mostrar que a tradição dos direitos humanos reconhece as características necessárias à autodeterminação, e que as reivindicações por direitos socioambientais no Brasil e em outros lugares derivam sua legitimidade do mesmo tipo de argumento que justifica os * Bruce Gilbert has a Ph. D from the Department of Philosophy at the Pennsylvania State University (B.A. History, Toronto; Diploma in Education and Pastoral Care, Centre for Christian Studies; M.A. Religious Studies, McGill). His recent book, The Vitality of Contradiction: Hegel, Politics and the Dialectic of Liberal-Capitalism (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014), won the Biennial Book Prize of the Canadian Philosophical Association. It articulates the philosophical arguments for a society that is politically but also economically and culturally democratic. He has a cross appointment at Bishop's, teaching in both the Department of Philosophy and the Liberal Arts Program. Dr. Gilbert's research, most broadly speaking, engages dialectical philosophy in the spheres of ethics, society, politics, ecology and religion. If dialectic names the process by which humanity learns, then freedom is not merely choice, but is rather our capacity to develop increasingly sophisticated forms of relationship with each other and our environment. Dr. Gilbert also engages in empirical research on this topic, focusing on social movements in Brazil, especially on the Movement of Landless Rural Workers of Brazil (MST), a large and very successful social movement which occupies under-utilized land in order to create self-sufficient farming cooperatives.