Category Archives: Political Ecology

Weapons of the Weak

Scott, James. 1985. Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. New Haven: Yale University Press. James Scott’s influential Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance offers a compelling thesis on peasant politics and social change in … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Everyday Life, Hegemony, Land, Law, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Post-Colonial, Power, The State, Violence | 2 Comments

Culture of Terror, Space of Death

Taussig, Michael. 1984. “Culture of Terror, Space of Death. Roger Casement’s Putumayo Report and the Explanation of Torture.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 26(3): 467-497. In this essay, Michael Taussig wants to explore “the mediation of the culture of … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Boundaries, Dialectics, Forests, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Land, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Spatiality, Spectacle, Terror, Violence | Comments Off on Culture of Terror, Space of Death

Taking the Jungle Out of the Forest

Peluso, Nancy and Peter Vandergeest. 2011. “Taking the Jungle out of the Forest: Counter-Insurgency and the Making of National Natures.” In Global Political Ecology edited by Richard Peet, Paul Robbins, and Michael Watts. New York: Routledge.  What are the interconnected … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Boundaries, Forests, Frontiers, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Maps, Nation/Nationalism, Political Ecology, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Scale, Science & Tech., Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Taking the Jungle Out of the Forest

The Antinomies of ‘Community’

Watts, Michael J. “The Sinister Political Life of Community: Economies of Violence and Governable Spaces in the Niger Delta, Nigeria.” Creed, Gerald. The Seductions of Community: Emancipations, Oppressions, Quandaries. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press. Community is often … Continue reading

Posted in Hegemony, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Law, Michel Foucault, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Scale, Sovereignty, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | 1 Comment

Intimate Enemies in Chiapas

Bobrow-Strain, Aaron. 2007. Intimate Enemies: Landowners, Power, and Violence in Chiapas. Durham: Duke University Press. This book has a perfect hook: What about the vilified landowners on the receiving end of the January 1, 1994, uprising by the Zapatista rebels … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Antonio Gramsci, Boundaries, Frontiers, Gender, Hegemony, Henri Lefebvre, Historical-Geographies, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Marxism, Nation/Nationalism, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Scale, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | 2 Comments

The Fate of the Forest

Hecht, Susanna and Alexander Cockburn. 1989. The Fate of the Forest. London: Verso. The first thing that stands out from Susanna Hecht and Alexander Cockburn’s classic Fate of the Forest is its mesmerizing writing style. The prose effortlessly moves the … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Boundaries, Forests, Frontiers, Historical-Geographies, Illegality, Insurgency/Counterinsurgency, Land, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Science & Tech., The State, Violence | 2 Comments

Marxism, Culture, and Political Ecology

Moore, Donald. 1996. “Marxism, Culture, and Political Ecology: Environmental Struggles in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands.” In Liberation Ecologies: Environment, Development, Social Movements. London: Routledge. Donald Moore sets out to critique what he sees as political ecology’s emphasis on macro-structural dynamics whereby … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Antonio Gramsci, Dialectics, Frontiers, Gender, Historical-Geographies, Land, Marxism, Nation/Nationalism, Place, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Spatiality, Territory, The State, Violence | Comments Off on Marxism, Culture, and Political Ecology

Coercing Conservation

Peluso, Nancy Lee. 1993. “Coercing Conservation?: The Politics of State Resource Control” Global Environmental Change 3(2):199-218. The premise of Nancy Peluso’s influential article “Coercing Conservation” is that “some state interests appropriate the ideology, legitimacy, and technology of conservation as a … Continue reading

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Political Ecology, II

Watts, Michael J. 2000. “Political Ecology.” In A Companion to Economic Geography edited by Eric Sheppard and Trevor J. Barnes. Oxford: Blackwell. Michael Watts says that political ecology “seeks to understand the complex relations between nature and society through a … Continue reading

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Political Ecology, I

Robbins, Paul. 2004. Political Ecology. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. Paul Robbins’ Political Ecology offers a sweeping and surprisingly complete overview to this exciting body of work and practice. I like the way Robbins bills it as, more than a body of … Continue reading

Posted in Agriculture, Gender, Governmentality, Historical-Geographies, Land, Networks, Political Ecology, Political Economy, Post-Colonial, Power, Race & Ethnicity, Science & Tech., The State, Violence | 3 Comments