The book focuses on the symbolic importance of natural landscapes among various social groups in this setting, and how it relates to conflicts between peasant communities and the state. Neumann's thoughtful framing of the issues that fuel ongoing controversies will interest ecologists as well as those interested in political economy and development in Africa.
The Apostle Islands are a solitary place of natural beauty, with red sandstone cliffs, secluded beaches, and a rich and unique forest surrounded by the cold, blue waters of Lake Superior. But this seemingly pristine wilderness has been shaped and reshaped by humans. The people who lived and worked in the Apostles built homes, cleared fields, and cut timber in the island forests. The consequences of human choices made more than a century ago can still be read in today’s wild landscapes. A Storied Wilderness traces the complex history of human interaction with the Apostle Islands. In the 1930s, resource extraction made it seem like the islands’ natural beauty had been lost forever. But as the island forests regenerated, the ways that people used and valued the islands changed - human and natural processes together led to the rewilding of the Apostles. In 1970, the Apostles were included in the national park system and ultimately designated as the Gaylord Nelson Wilderness. How should we understand and value wild places with human pasts? James Feldman argues convincingly that such places provide the opportunity to rethink the human place in nature. The Apostle Islands are an ideal setting for telling the national story of how we came to equate human activity with the loss of wilderness characteristics, when in reality all of our cherished wild places are the products of the complicated interactions between human and natural history. Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frECwkA6oHs
Our Gigantic Zoo tells the story of Bernhard Grzimek, the most important European wildlife conservationist, and his role in creating a permanent sanctuary for innocent animals in Serengeti National Park.
Sweet Deal, Bitter Landscape brings us to the mid-2000s, when the Tanzanian government struck a deal with a foreign investor to convert more than 20,000 hectares of long-settled coastal land to establish a sugarcane plantation. Ten years on, the deal was abruptly abandoned. Popularly deemed a case of hubristic global development, critics classified this project another in a line of failed modern resource grabs. Youjin B. Chung argues such tidy accounts conceal myriad and profound implications: not only how gender, history, and culture shaped the project's trajectory, but also how, even in its stalled state, the deal upended social life on the land by setting in motion incomplete processes of development and dispossession. With rich ethnographic detail and visual storytelling, Sweet Deal, Bitter Landscape traces the lived experiences of diverse rural women and men as they struggled for survival under a seemingly endless condition of liminality. In so doing, she raises critical questions about the directions and stakes of postcolonial development and nation-building in Tanzania, and the shifting meanings of identity and belonging for those on the margins of capitalist agrarian transformation.
In Domestic Wild, Franklin Ginn sets out to find a new sense of the wild at the heart of modernity. Inspired by experienced, skilful gardeners, Ginn analyses what happens when plants, animals and people meet in the suburbs of London. Weaving major theories of landscape, memory and nonhuman subjectivity with the practical wisdom of gardeners, this book offers a radical new account of everyday gardening. Amid spectacular horizons of planetary loss, Domestic Wild argues that gardening offers a means to cultivate a renewed sense of intimacy with nature and ourselves.
This fully updated new edition introduces the core concepts, central thinkers, and major works of the burgeoning field of political ecology. Explores the key arguments and contemporary explanatory challenges facing the sub-discipline Provides the first full history of the development of political ecology over the last century and its theoretical underpinnings Considers the major challenges facing the field now and for the future Study boxes introduce key figures in the development of the discipline and summarize their most important works Fully updated to include recent events, such as the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill, as well as both urban and rural examples, from the developed and underdeveloped world
Through a global and interdisciplinary lens, this book discusses, analyzes and summarizes the novel conservation approach of rewilding. The volume introduces key rewilding definitions and initiatives, highlighting their similarities and differences. It reviews matches and mismatches between the current state of ecological knowledge and the stated aims of rewilding projects, and discusses the role of human action in rewilding initiatives. Collating current scholarship, the book also considers the merits and dangers of rewilding approaches, as well as the economic and socio-political realities of using rewilding as a conservation tool. Its interdisciplinary nature will appeal to a broad range of readers, from primary ecologists and conservation biologists to land managers, policy makers and conservation practitioners in NGOs and government departments. Written for a scientifically literate readership of academics, researchers, students, and managers, the book also acts as a key resource for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses.
This book explores attitudes and strategies towards the return of the wild in times of ecological crisis, focusing on wolves in Europe. The contributions from a variety of disciplines discuss human encounters with wolves, engaging with traditional narratives and contemporary conflicts. Covering a range of geographical areas, the case studies featured demonstrate the tremendous impact of the return of the wolf in European societies. Wolves are a keystone species that exemplify humanity’s relation to what is called nature and their return generates powerful debates about what ‘nature’ actually is and how much it is needed or should be permitted to exist. The book considers the return of the wild as a catalyst for fundamental socio-biological changes of the world within human societies, and the various responses of humans to wolves demonstrate both our potential and limitations when it comes to multispecies communities and negotiating societal change. Managing the Return of the Wild will be relevant to a broad audience interested in discussions of social and ecological conflict today, including scholars from multispecies studies and diverse disciplines such as biology, forestry management and folklore studies.
"From the Enlightenment to the present day, and using a variety of case studies from all the continents, the authors show us how our ideas of and about mountains have changed with the times and how a wide range of policies, from border delineation to forestry as well as nature protection and social programs, have been shaped according to them. A rich hybrid analysis of geography, history, culture, and politics."--Jacket.
