Utrecht University
2023/2024
202200003 Political Ecologies: Nature, Humans and Non-
Humans
Literature Summary
- Numbers after sentences refer to page numbers
- Italicized sentences are direct quotes from the texts
- Words in bold are important concepts
Literature Week 1
Williams, Raymond.1985.“Ecology”(pp.110-11)and“Nature”
(pp.219-224) from Keywords: A vocabulary of culture and society
(Revised Edition). New York: Oxford University Press.
Ecology
Etymology of word ecology (110)
Connection ecology and environment (111)
Ecology as the study of relations of plants and animals with each other and
their habitat
Nature
Complex meaning of the word nature (219)
- Essential character of something
- The inherent force which directs either the world or human beings or
both
- Material world itself, either including or not including human beings
Nature started as a word describing a quality/process (from to be born),
later became a noun
Discussion about what ‘the nature’ of things is (220)
Personification of nature, as a sort of mythical force/being (221)
Word nature can be used in many ways
Contrast of nature and mankind, what is natural and what not (223)
Nature as: the goddess, the minister, the monarch, the lawyer, the source
of original innocence or as the selective breeder
1
,Robbins, Paul.2012“Political versus Apolitical Ecologies” from
Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction (Second Edition). Sussex:
John Wiley & Sons Ltd. p.11-24
Common idea people have of the savanna is of an area without people,
however, the problems that occur in this area are more political and
economic than demographic (12)
Faulty assumptions of the nature in Africa
- That it is without people
- That these places are isolated from rest of the world/Africans
themselves
Migration of wild animals and implications for the savanna (and thus, for
the people living there) is set in context of wider political economy (13)
- Spheres of money, influence and control
The difference between this contextual approach and the more traditional
way of viewing problems like this is the difference between a political and
an apolitical ecology. This is the difference between identifying broader
systems rather than blaming proximate and local forces; between viewing
ecological systems as power-laden rather than politically inert; and taking
an explicitly normative approach rather than one that claims the
objectivity of disinterest (13).
Field of research interested in human-environment linkages, interest in the
condition of the environment and the people who live and work within it
What is political ecology?
Different definitions of political ecology, all of them together do suggest an
antithesis to apolitical ecology (14)
Challenging apolitical ecologies
Most common apolitical ecology approaches are ‘ecoscarcity’ and
‘modernization’
Ecoscarcity and limits to growth
- Based on Malthusian essay (Malthusian trap)
- Basic assumptions on the scarcity of non-human nature and greed of
growing human population
Problems with this line of thinking (16)
- Demography is a weak predictor of environmental crisis and change
- Assumes the environment as a finite, unchanging resource
Resources are constructed rather than given people have different
responses in the face of scarcity (17)
2
,Adaptation of natural systems to fit human needs is an important element
of human-environment interactions, but the Malthusian model is too
simplistic
- It does have serious policy implications
Population control is seen as solution, rather than redistribution of power
and goods, that also makes this model political (18)
Other political ecologies: diffusion, valuation and modernization
- Assumption that ecological problems are due to inadequate
modernization (generally linked to economic efficiency)
- Idea of sustainable development
Several principles
- Western/northern technology need to be distributed worldwide
- Firms and individuals must be connected to markets and given
control over environmental resources
- Some form of valuation of nature must be institutionalized (19)
Some critiques and debates are
- Modern technologies are not always able to optimize
production/have negative consequences
- General problematic idea that Western knowledge is superior
- Open and free markets are not beneficial to all
Modernization approach calls for institutional and political changes,
making it political
Common assumptions and modes of explanation
Political ecology shares common premise: environmental change and
ecological conditions are the product of political process
Political ecologists: “accept the idea that costs and benefits associated
with environmental change are for the most part distributed among actor
unequally … [which inevitably] reinforces or reduces existing social and
economic inequalities … [which holds] political implications in terms of the
altered power of actors in relation to other actors” (20).
Researchers look at various scales
Political ecology describes a community of practice that it united around a
certain kind of text
Attempts to do two things at once: explain what is wrong and explore
alternatives
Five dominant narratives in political ecology
General interest in five big themes (21)
3
, - Degradation and marginalization thesis
- The conservation and control thesis
- The environmental conflict and exclusion thesis (22)
- The environmental subjects and identity thesis
- Political objects and actors thesis (23)
The targets of explanation
- Each thesis looks to explain something different and in a different
way but they are often connected/leading from one another
- Linkages to different actors (24)
Much of research used in political ecology is from other disciplines and has
a long history
Miéville, China. 2015 “The Limits of Utopia” Salvage Magazine
August 1 (online).
Poor communities are often disproportionately affected by climate
change/pollution/etc. little help from Big Green (environmental
organizations), problematic (2)
Connection to capitalism/harm of capitalist system and environment and
imperialism
Misdirection of responsibility for climate change/pollution (3)
Not Anthropocene but Capitalocene
Thinking about utopias to solve the crisis is necessary, but utopias also
have their own problems and shortcomings (4)
- We are not in this together, we are not all equal (utopia of
togetherness)
Connections to violence
Connections colonialism/imperialism/race and environmental
damage/control (5)
Utopia and apocalypse
Rise of geoengineering to fix climate change often inadequate or
unrealistic (6)
Idea that it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of
capitalism (7)
Bhopal disaster in India, 1984
The fight for ecological justice means a fight against that system, because
there is massive profit in injustice (8).
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