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 naturesociety relations within the social sciences. With contributions from over 50 leading scholars, the Handbook presents a systematic overview of political ecologys 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 naturesociety scholarship. These are followed by a section on the practice of political ecology: ethics, methods, activism, and policy. The remainder of the book is comprised of five sub-sections that examine fundamental concepts at the heart of political ecology: environmental knowledge, environmental change, environmental governance, environmental identities, and environmental politics.

The Routledge Handbook of Political Ecology introduces political ecology as an interdisciplinary academic field. It will serve as an excellent resource for graduate and advanced undergraduate teaching, and as a key reference text for geographers, anthropologists, sociologists, environmental historians, and others working in and around the fields of political ecology, environmental politics, and the political economy of environmental change.

Tom Perreault is Professor of Geography at Syracuse University, USA. His research focuses on resource governance (particularly water and mining), indigenous social movement politics, and rural development in the central Andean region. He serves as an editor for the journal Geoforum.

Gavin Bridge is Professor of Economic Geography at Durham University, UK. His research focuses on the political economy of extractive industries and how firms, states, and raw materials shape the political ecologies of oil, gas, and mining.

James McCarthy is Professor in the Graduate School of Geography at Clark University, USA. His research centers on the intersections of political economy and environmental politics, with particular emphases on the relationships between neoliberalism and environmental governance, and on rural areas and industries.

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[endorsements to come]

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The Routledge Handbook of Political EcologyEdited by Tom Perreault, Gavin Bridge and James McCarthy

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THE ROUTLEDGE HANDBOOK OF

POLITICAL ECOLOGY

Edited by Tom Perreault, Gavin Bridge and James McCarthy

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First published 2015by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2015 Tom Perreault, Gavin Bridge, and James McCarthy

The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with

sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or

hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to

infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication DataA catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data[CIP data]

ISBN: 978-1-138-79433-7 (hbk)ISBN: 978-1-315-75928-9 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo and Minion Proby Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby

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To our advisors, Tony Bebbington, Jody Emel, and Michael Watts, for their contributions to this field, and

for what they have taught us.

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ix

CONTENTS

List of figures 0List of tables 0Notes on contributors 0Acknowledgements 0

PART I

Introduction 0

1 Editors introduction 0Gavin Bridge, James McCarthy, and Tom Perreault

2 Now and then: the origins of political ecology and the rebirth of adaptation as a form of thought 0Michael J. Watts

PART II

Origins, trajectories, and futures 0

Part II introduction 0

3 Speaking truth to power: a personal account of activist political ecology 0Ben Wisner

4 The power-full distribution of knowledge in political ecology: a view from the South 0Enrique Leff

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Contents

x

5 French research traditions on peasant agricultural systems: a convergence with political ecology? 0Denis Gautier and Christian A. Kull

6 The Trickster science 0Paul Robbins

7 From critique to experiment? Rethinking political ecology for the Anthropocene 0Bruce Braun

PART III

Doing political ecology 0

Part III introduction 0

8 Ethics, entanglement and political ecology 0Juanita Sundberg

9 Ethics in research beyond the human 0Rosemary-Claire Collard

10 Relationship and research methods: entanglements, intra-actions, and diffraction 0Abigail H. Neely and Thokozile Nguse

11 Methods and environmental science in political ecology 0Karl S. Zimmerer

12 Political ecologies of activism and direct action politics 0Nik Heynen and Levi Van Sant

13 Political ecology as praxis 0Alex Loftus

14 Political ecology and policy: a case study in engagement 0Brent McCusker

15 At the boundaries of la poltica: political ecology, policy networks and moments of government 0Anthony Bebbington

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Contents

xi

PART IV

Core questions in political ecology 0

Part IV introduction 0

Part IV, section A introduction: Environmental knowledge 0

16 Reassembling the structural: political ecolo