1st Edition
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 nature–society relations within the social sciences. With contributions from over 50 leading scholars, the Handbook presents a systematic overview of political ecology’s 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 nature–society scholarship. These are followed by a section on the practice of political ecology: ethics, methods, activism, and policy. The remainder of the book comprises 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.
PART I: INTRODUCTION
Editors' introduction
Introductory overview: The Origins of Political Ecology Michael Watts
PART II: ORIGINS, TRAJECTORIES AND FUTURES OF POLITICAL ECOLOGY
Activist political ecology Ben Wisner
Reflections on non-Anglophone political ecology Enrique Leff
French research traditions on peasant agriculture Denis Gautier & Christian Kull
Political ecology as trickster Paul Robbins
The end of critique? Bruce Braun
PART III: DOING POLITICAL ECOLOGY
Ethics and Entanglement Juanita Sundberg
Ethics in research beyond the human Rosemary-Claire Collard
Relationship and Research Methods Abby Neely & Thoko Nguse
Methods in Environmental Science Karl Zimmerer
Activism and Direct Action Politics Nik Heynen & Levi Van Sant
Political ecology as praxis Alex Loftus
Political ecology and policy Brent McCusker
Policy Networks and Moments of Government Tony Bebbington
PART IV: CORE QUESTIONS AND CONCEPTS OF POLITICAL ECOLOGY
A: Environmental Knowledge
Political ecology and Actor-Network Theory Rebecca Lave
Promises of Participation in Science and Political Ecology David Demeritt
Indigenous/local environmental knowledge Leah Horowitz
Participatory Mapping Joe Bryan
Historical approaches Diana Davis
B: Environmental Change
Capitalist production of socio-natures Noel Castree
Risk, hazards and vulnerability Jim Wescoat
Climate change and environmental transformation Diana Liverman
Environment and development: Reflections from Latin America Astrid Ulloa
Livelihoods and social reproduction Ed Carr
Political Ecologies of Disease and Health Brian King
Environmental degradation and Marginalization Tor Benjaminsen
Industrialization and environmental change Stefania Barca
International trade, development and environment Alf Hornborg
C: Environmental Governance
Nature conservation Rod Neumann
International Agri-food systems Derek Hall
Certification regimes Tad Muttersbaugh
Property and commodification Scott Prudham
Neoliberalization of nature Karen Bakker
Political ecology and state theory Morgan Robertson
Eco-governmentality Gabriela Valdivia
Energy and resources Matt Huber
Biosecurity Celia Lowe
Scales and polities Nathan Sayre
D: Environmental Identities
Gender/feminist political ecology 2 Rebecca Elmhirst
Indigeneity Emily Yeh & Joe Bryan
Class formation and nature Michael Ekers
Nature, difference and the body Julie Guthman & Becky Mansfield
E: Environmental Politics
Social Movements Wendy Wolford & Sarah Keene
Environmental justice Ryan Holifield
Environmental conflict Philippe LeBillon
Urbanization and environmental imaginaries Erik Swyngedouw
Editor's conclusion
Biography
Tom Perreault is Professor of Geography at Syracuse University, USA. His research focuses on resource governance (particularly water and mining), agrarian change, indigenous social movement politics, and rural development in the central Andean region.
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.
