Social Nature: Theory, Practice and Politics

This groundbreaking collection brings together for the first time diverse geographical work on the social construction of nature. Eleven leading contributors not only discuss social nature, but look at the concrete ways in which it is made and the political implications of its construction. They use International case studies to illustrate their theoretical positions.

The original contributions are written at a level that is appropriate for upper level students, and a helpful introduction by the editors, looking at the paradigms and perspectives that have been employed in the study of social nature, sets the chapters in context. The volume as a whole enables teachers and students to explore the ways in which social nature is evident and to engage with the direct implications of this for human lives, ecologies and politics.

List of Figures.

List of Contributors.

Preface.

Acknowledgements.

1. Socializing Nature: Theory, Practice, and Politics: Noel Castree (University of Manchester).

2. Being Constructive About Nature?: David Demeritt (Kings College, London).

3. Nature, Poststructuralism, and Politics: Bruce Braun (University of Minnesota) and Joel Wainwright (University of Minnesota).

4. The Nature of ′Race′: Kay Anderson (Durham University).

5. Postcolonialism and the Production of Nature: Derek Gregory (University of British Columbia).

6. Gendered Natures: Feminism, Politics, and Social Nature: Jane Moeckli (University of Iowa) and Bruce Braun (University of Minnesota).

7. Social Nature and Environmental Policy in the South: Views from Verandah and Veld: Piers Blaikie (University of East Anglia).

8. Political Ecology: A Critical Agenda for Change?: Ray Bryant (King′s College, London).

9. Natural Disasters?: Mark Pelling (University of Liverpool).

10. Marxism, Capitalism, and the Production of Nature: Noel Castree (University of Manchester).

11. Dissolving Dualisms: Actor–networks and the Reimagination of Nature: Noel Castree (University of Manchester) and Tom MacMillan (University of Manchester).

12. Solid Rock and Shifting Sands: The Moral Paradox of saving a Socially Constructed Nature: James Proctor (University of California, Santa Barbara).

Index.

Noel Castree is Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Manchester. Co–editor (with Bruce Braun) of Remaking reality: nature at the millennium (1998), he has published widely on social theory approaches to nature, with a particular focus on Marxian political economy. He is currently undertaking research on the commodifiaction of human genes and the commercial, cultural and ethical aspects of patenting living entities.

Bruce Braun is Assistant Professor in Geography at the University of Minnesota. He is co–editor (with Noel Castree) of Remaking reality: nature at the millennium (1998) and has published widely on the social construction and cultural politics of nature. He is currently doing research on nature, the state and modernity in post–war Canada.

"Nature as a concept, it is often said, is elusive, complex, promiscuous and yet familiar. Social Nature is a superb introduction to nature′s complexity from the vantage point of the very best of critical geography. An excellent introduction to the epistemological thickets which have grown up around, and which threaten to strangle, our understanding of Nature as artifice and artifact." Michael Watts <!––end––>

"No other single volume summarizes and critically reviews the geographical research on social nature." Choice