Mondays, 3.30-6.20 p.m.
Department of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder, Spring 1998
Professor Simon Batterbury
Department of Geography
Room 103B
tel.
492 5388
home page http://www.brunel.ac.uk/depts/geo/simon.html
email
batterbu@spot.colorado.edu
Office
hours: Wed 10-11, 3-3.45 Fri 10-11 (occasionally)
A concern for the relationship between nature and society has been one of the
pillars of geographic inquiry, and has also been an important bridge between
geography and other disciplines, in particular anthropology. By the 1960s this
area of inquiry was referred to variously as "human ecology" or "cultural
ecology". Over the last decade certain forms of inquiry within this tradition
have increasingly referred to themselves as "political ecology."
Much (though not all) of the empirical work within these two traditions has
been conducted in social and physical environments that might in some sense be
called "marginal." They have been areas of environmental fragility, aridity and
resource constraint; areas of socio-economic poverty; regions of indigenous
populations and local communities confronting rapid modernization and
commodification, etc. Work in these environments has been concerned to
understand the main forces determining how resources are used, the strategies
that people use to manage those resources, and (in those bodies of work that
have also had a development focus) the possibilities for finding alternative
resource management strategies to address, variously, problems of poverty,
environment or (less so) growth.
The first purpose of this seminar is firstly to review these bodies of
writing and a number of the critical themes that they have raised in order to
build frameworks that allow (i) a more complete understanding of the nature of
marginal environments; and (ii) comparisons of causative processes and
relationships across those environments. In particular we will look at:
frameworks for the comparative analysis of nature-society relationships across
different environments; notions of environment, ecology and history within
cultural ecology (and more recent reflections on those themes); explanatory
frameworks within political ecology; the use of the concept of human agency at
household and organized levels; the implications of new frameworks in ecology;
and the ways in which these changing frameworks of analysis have also led to a
rethinking of environmental history - a rethinking which in turn has profound
implications for contemporary understandings of the environment and the links
between environment and development.
These themes are related a rethinking of the Environment and Behavior
(E&B) Program within the Universities' Institute of Behavioral Science (an
E&B web page is 'in press'). For the week of February 2nd, the seminar will
take advantage of the visit to the E&B program of Professor Billie Lee
Turner, Director of the George Perkins Marsh Institute at Clark University,
and will join an E&B programmatic discussion about interdisciplinary and
comparative frameworks for analyzing marginal environments.
The second purpose of the seminar is to take these frameworks to the level of
two separate regions where the course convenors conduct their fieldwork: namely
the Andes and Sahelian West Africa. This will allow both an interrogation of
nature-society relations in those regions and also a critical examination of the
frameworks themselves.
In these different senses, the seminar is very much a research seminar. It is
perhaps especially appropriate for graduate students intending to do
comprehensive examinations (doctoral examinations) in cultural and political
ecology, or - though less so - in either Latin America or Africa. Because of the
research nature of this seminar, participants are encouraged to prepare papers
directly related to the theoretical and/or empirical themes in their own areas
of research. For those of you outside the seminar, we welcome comments on the
readings and themes therein.
The course convenors have also attempted to link the class to activities related to this year's Annual meetings of the Association of American Geographers at Boston, March 24-28th.
Participation in these activities is not essential for the class, but we hope will enrich the experience for students. The first is a joint student conference on the 23-24th of March at Clark University, in Worcester Mass, where Clark and Boulder graduates working on Nature-Society issues will meet to discuss their work, their frameworks of analysis and their views on the field. The second is a double session at those meetings arranged by the convenors on Environmental Histories and Access to Resources in Africa and Latin America which will address many of the issues raised in the course, and allow students to see other researchers' perspectives on frameworks of analysis.
Students will be assessed in three areas: their participation in class
(including paper presentation and pre-class comments); a proposal and initial
review of literature for their longer research paper (due February 2nd); and a
final research paper that should be of near publishable quality (due May
6th).
By the Sunday before each class, students should submit by email to all
the group a one page comment on the readings.
Grades will be determined as follows:
Recommended: Special issue of the Geographical Journal, 163(2), July
1997. Reprint available for $5 including postage from the Royal Geographical
Society (email Gwen Lowman, editor: g.lowman@rgs.org) There are only 50 copies
left! Also check the related conference
website and review of the
conference
Check the Cultural Ecology Newsletter of the Association of American
Geographers (http://www.cwu.edu/~geograph/cult.html)
Check also the Anthropology and the Environment Section of the American Anthropological Association, with its many links, and the Society for Applied Anthropology's Environmental Anthropology Project. There is no single journal for cultural and political ecology. Practitioners publish in many places. The Journal of Human Ecology comes close to being a cultural ecology journal (although few geographers publish here), and the web Journal of Political Ecology is worth consulting.
Batterbury, S. Forsyth, T and Thomson, K. 1997 "Environmental transformations
in developing countries: hybrid research and democratic policy" Geographical
Journal 163(2): 126-132.
Leach, Melissa, Robin Mearns and Ian Scoones. 1997. Environmental
entitlements: a conceptual framework for understanding the institutional
dynamics of environmental change. IDS Discussion Paper, 359. Brighton: Institute
of Development Studies. (Text is on internet: http://www.ids.ac.uk/eldis/envids/dp/overview.html).
The IDS Environment Group's programmatic
statement is also of interest, although it has been temporarily withdrawn
from the Web. See also Simon's
review of the conference on environmental entitlements.
Kasperson, J., R. Kasperson and B.Turner (eds.). Regions at Risk: comparisons
of threatened environments. Tokyo. United Nations University. (chapters 1 and
11).
Peet, R. and Watts, M. Watts, 1996 "Liberation Ecology" pp. 1-45 in R.Peet
and M.Watts 1996 Liberation Ecologies: environment, development, social
movements. London. Routledge.
Turner B.L and Benjamin, P. 1994 "Fragile lands: identification and use for
agriculture" in V Ruttan (ed.) 1994 Agriculture, Environment and Health:
sustainable development in the 21st century. Minneapolis. Univ. of Minnesota
Press.
Vayda, Andrew P. 1983. Progressive contextualization: methods and research in
human ecology. Human Ecology, 11(3):265-281.
E&B. 1997. Sustainable livelihoods and globalization: policy options for
marginal environments. Mimeo. University of Colorado, Environment and Behavior
Program.
Each others' background note on dimensions of marginality in students
selected research environment.
There is a handout entitled Cultural Ecology and its critics by Simon. See also Benjamin Orlove's class on cultural ecology at UC-Davis (Orlove makes use of Julian Steward's anthropological framework, and there are many useful notes and handouts here.
Barrows, Harlan 1923. Geography as human ecology. Annals, Association of
American Geographers, XIII(1): 1-14.
Butzer, Karl W. 1989. "Cultural ecology." pp. 192-208 in Gary L. Gaile and
Cort J. Willmott (eds.), Geography in America. Columbus: Merrill Publishing
Co.
Ellen,
R. 1982 Environment, subsistence and system: the ecology of small scale
social formations. Cambridge, CUP. (Chapters 3, 4, 6, 7, 8)
Headland, T. 1997 "Revisionism in ecological anthropology" Current
Anthropology 38(4): 605-630.
Sauer, Carl O. 1981[1956] The agency of man on earth. pp. 330-363 in Carl O.
Sauer, Selected Essays 1963-1975. Berkeley: Turtle Island Press.
Turner, B.L. 1989. "The specialist-synthesis approach to the revival of
geography: the case of cultural ecology." Annals of the Association of American
Geographers, 79(1):88-100.
Turner, B.L 1997 Spirals, bridges and tunnels: engaging human-environment
perspectives in geography? Ecumene vol 4 (2): 196-217
Zimmerer,
Karl S. 1994. "Human geography and the "new ecology": the prospect and
promise of integration." Annals of the Association of American Geographers,
84(1):108-125
See also a useful summary in Milton, K. 1996. Environmentalism & Cultural Theory. London: Routledge. (chapter 2 - Culture & Ecology).
Political ecology may be defined as a broad, ecological politics: a politics of the environment. Geographers working in developing countries began by using the term in a rather more narrow sense: "regional" political ecology dates back to the work of Piers Blaikie in the 1980s. RPE provides explanations for environmental problems using "nested" analytical scales. It also emphasizes struggle and resistance, access to resources, and commodification processes. In the mid 1990s, "regional" political ecology began to be criticized for its inattention to complex political processes, particularly by Peet & Watts, and most recently by Middleton & O'Keefe. Bryant's work, developed from the UK, also stresses political processes as vital for understanding environmental problems and their resolution. His work is somewhat at odds with the post-structuralist critique presented by Peet and Watts (Peet & Watts combine Marxism with much on the 'social construction' of the environment; Bryant merely identifies political 'actors' of different types). A "preliminary" bibliography of political ecology is given here.
Handout on political ecology by Ben Orlove (see syllabus wk.22)
Blaikie,
P. and Brookfield,
H. 1987 Land Degradation and Society. Oxford. MacMillan. (chapter 1)
Bryant RL
& Bailey S. 1997 Third world political ecology. London. Routledge. (Intro.,
Chaps 1, 2 and Conclusion)
Bryant, R.L. 1997. Beyond the Impasse: the power of political ecology in
third world environmental research. Area 29:1-15
Blaikie P. 1996. Understanding Environmental Issues. Pp. 1-30 In Stocking M.
& S. Morse People and Environment. London: UCL Press.
Durham, W. 1995 "Political Ecology and Environmental Destruction in Latin
America" pp. 249-264 pp. In The Social Causes of Tropical Deforestation in Latin
America. Ann Arbor. University of Michigan Press.
Escobar, A. 1996 "Constructing Nature" pp. 46-68 in R.Peet and M.Watts
Liberation Ecologies: environment, development, social movements. London.
Routledge.
Greenberg JB & Park TK. 1994. Political Ecology. Journal of Political
Ecology (internet : http://dizzy.library.arizona.edu/ej/jpe/)
Grossman, Larry 1981. The cultural ecology of economic development. Annals of
the Association of American Geographers, 71(2):220-236.
Middleton, N & O'Keefe, P. 1998. Disaster and Development: the Politics
of Humanitarian Aid. London: Pluto Press. (chapter 1).
Peet, R. and Watts, M. Watts, 1996 "Conclusion" pp. 260-269 in R.Peet and
M.Watts 1996 Liberation Ecologies: environment, development, social movements.
London. Routledge.
Rocheleau
D, Thomas-Slayter B, Wangari E (eds.) 1996 Feminist Political Ecology.
Routledge. (Intro. and Conclusion).
Human adaptation to environmental, social, and technological constraints formed part of Julian Steward's initial formulation of cultural ecology back in the 1950s, and can also be seen in work on natural hazards (eg. Kates). If we see humans at adaptive, conscious and proactive (rather than as powerless victims of circumstance), then a richer consideration of adaptation (which is itself a problematic concept) leads us to consider humans as 'agents'. This notion appealed to the great cultural ecologists like Robert Netting, and Paul Richards, who vigorously championed the abilities of small-scale traditional farmers to overcome constraint and to seek out opportunities.
Bennett, John W. 1969. Northern Plainsmen: Adaptive Strategy and Agrarian
Life. Chicago: Aldine.
Carney J 1996
"Converting the wetlands, engendering the environment" pp. 165-187 in R.Peet and
M.Watts 1996 Liberation Ecologies: environment, development, social movements.
London. Routledge.
Denevan, William M. 1983. Adaptation, variation, and cultural geography.
Professional Geographer, 35:399-407.
Kates, Robert W. 1971. Natural hazards in human ecological perspective:
hypotheses and models. Economic Geography
read with
Hyden, G., Kates, R. and Turner, B.L. 1993 "Beyond intensification" in
Turner, B.L., Kates, R. and Hyden, G. (eds.) 1993 Population Growth and
agricultural intensification: studies from the densely settled areas of Africa.
Gainesville. University of Florida Press
Long, Norman 1992. "From paradigm lost to paradigm regained? The case for an
actor oriented sociology of development" in Long N. and A. Long (eds.),
Battlefields of Knowledge: The Interlocking of Theory and Practice in Social
Research and Development. London: Routledge.
Netting, Robert 1993. Smallholders, Householders: Farm Families and the
Ecology of Intensive, Sustainable Agriculture. Stanford: Stanford University
Press.
Richards, P. 1985. Indigenous Agricultural Revolution: Food and Ecology in
West Africa. London: Hutchinson.
Watts,
M. 1983 "On the poverty of theory: natural hazards research in context" pp.
231-262 In K.Hewitt (ed.) Interpretations of Calamity. Boston. Allen and
Unwin.
This week looks at constraints on adaptation and human agency, and at institutional formations.
Bebbington, Anthony J. 1994. Theory and relevance in indigenous agriculture:
knowledge, agency and organization. pp. 202-225 in David Booth (ed.), Rethinking
Social Development: Theory, Research and Practice. Essex: Longman Scientific and
Technical.
Bryant, R. and S. Bailey 1997 "Grassroots actors" chapter 7 in Bryant RL
& Bailey S. 1997 Third world political ecology. London. Routledge.
Ellen,
R. 1982 Environment, subsistence and system: the ecology of small scale
social formations. Cambridge, CUP. (Chapters 10 and 11)
Ellen, R & Fukui, K (eds.) 1996. Redefining Nature: Ecology, Culture
& Domestication. Oxford: Berg. (Selected chapters, including this one I think (?) or
some
here?)
Moore, D. 1996 "Marxism, culture and political ecology" pp. 125-147 in R.Peet
and M.Watts 1996 Liberation Ecologies: environment, development, social
movements. London. Routledge.
Rangan, H. 1996 "From Chipko to Uttaranchal" pp. 205-227 in R.Peet and
M.Watts 1996 Liberation Ecologies: environment, development, social movements.
London. Routledge.
Thompson, M. 1997.
Security and solidarity: an anti-reductionist framework for thinking about the
relationship between us and the rest of nature" The Geographical Journal 163(2):
141-149 Abstract
Environmental History
resources
Ecology
Resources
Environmental history is primarily associated with work on landscape and ecological transformations in North America and Australasia. Yet cultural ecologists have also been working on long-term environmental changes, and tracing through the historical evolution of human impacts is a vital element in understanding today's human-environment relations. What might a 'new environmental history' look like?
Arnold D & Guha R 1995 Nature, Culture, Imperialism: Essays in Indian
Environmental History. Delhi.
Butzer, Karl W. 1990. The realm of cultural-human ecology: adaptation and
change in human perspective. pp. 685-702 in B.L. Turner, William C. Clark,
Robert W. Kates, John F. Richards, Jessica T Matthews, and William B. Meyer
(eds.), The Earth as Transformed by Human Action: Global and Regional Changes in
the Biosphere Over the Past 300 Years. Cambridge: University Press.
Chapman, G & Driver, T (eds.) 1996 Timescales and Environmental Change.
Routledge (see chapters by Leach & Fairhead, and
introduction/conclusion)
Forsyth, T. 1996. Science, Myth and Knowledge: testing the theory of
Himalayan environmental Degradation in Thailand. Geoforum 27:375-392
Griffiths T & Robin L eds. 1997 Ecology & Empire: Environmental
history of settler societies Edinburgh: Keele University Press (selected
chapters)
Kates, Robert, B.L. Turner, and William C. Clark 1990. The great
transformation. pp. 1-18 in B.L. Turner, William C. Clark, Robert W. Kates, John
F. Richards, Jessica T. Matthews, and William B. Meyer (eds.), The Earth as
Transformed by Human Action: Global and Regional Changes in the biosphere Over
the Past 300 Years. Cambridge: University Press.
Leach M and R. Mearns (eds.) 1996 The Lie of the Land: challenging
environmental orthodoxies in Africa. London. James Currey. (chapters 1 and
6)
O'Connor J. 1997. What is Environmental History? Why Environmental History?
Capitalism Nature Socialism 8(2) 3-29
Rocheleau, D, Steinberg, P. & Benjamin P. 1995. Environment, Development,
Crisis & Crusade: Ukambani Kenya 1890-1990. World Development.
23:1037-1051.
Tiffen, M, Mortimore M, Gichuki F. 1994. More People, Less Erosion.
Chichester. Wiley.
Brush, S. 1982 The natural and human environment of the central Andes."
Mountain Research and Development, 2(1): 19-38
Knapp, Greg 1991. Andean Ecology: Adaptive Dynamics in Ecuador. Boulder:
Westview. (chapters 1, 3, 9).
Mayer, E. 1987 "Production Zones" pp. 45-84 in S. Masuda, I. Shimada, and C.
Morris (eds.) Andean Ecology and Civilization. Tokyo. United Nations University
Press.
Murra, J. 1987 "El Archipelago Vertical Revisited" and "The limits and
limitations of the Vertical Archipelago in the Andes" pp. 3-20 in S. Masuda, I.
Shimada, and C. Morris (eds.) Andean Ecology and Civilization. Tokyo. United
Nations University Press.
Harriss, O. 1987 "Ecological duality and the role of the centre" pp. 311-335
in S. Masuda, I. Shimada, and C. Morris (eds.) Andean Ecology and Civilization.
Tokyo. United Nations University Press.
Orlove, B. and Guillet, D. 1985 "Theoretical and methodological
considerations on the study of mountain peoples: reflections on the idea of
subsistence type and the role of history in human ecology" Mountain Research and
Development 5(1): 3-18.
Yamamoto, N. 1987 ""The ecological complementarity of agropastoralism: some
comments" pp. 85-100 in S. Masuda, I. Shimada, and C. Morris (eds.) Andean
Ecology and Civilization. Tokyo. United Nations University Press.
Treacy, J. 1989 "Agricultural terraces in Peru's Colca Valley: promises and
problems of an ancient technology." pp. 209-229 in Browder, J. (ed.) Fragile
Lands of Latin America: strategies for their sustainable development. Boulder.
Westview Press.
Bebbington, Anthony, Hernon Carrasco, Lourdes Peralbo, Galo Ramon, Jorge
Trujillo, and Victor Torres 1993. Fragile lands, fragile organizations: Indian
organizations and the politics of sustainability in Ecuador. Transactions, the
Institute of British Geographers, 18:179-196.
Bebbington, Anthony 1996. "Movements, modernizations and markets" pp. 86-109
in R.Peet and M.Watts 1996 Liberation Ecologies: environment, development,
social movements. London. Routledge.
Bradby, B. 1982 "Resistance to capitalism in the Peruvian Andes" pp. 97-132
in D. Lehmann (ed.) Ecology and Exchange in the Andes. Cambridge. CUP.
Lehmann, D. 1982 "Introduction: Andean societies and the theory of peasant
economy" pp. 1- 26 in D. Lehmann (ed.) Ecology and Exchange in the Andes.
Cambridge. CUP.
Painter, M. 1995 "Upland-lowland linkages and land degradation in Bolivia."
pp. 133-168 in M.Painter and W.Durham (eds.) The Social Causes of Tropical
Deforestation in Latin America. Ann Arbor. University of Michigan Press.
Zimmerer, Karl S. 1991. Wetland production and smallholder persistence:
agricultural change in a highland Peruvian region. Annals, Association of
American Geographers, 81:443-463.
Zimmerer, K. 1996 "Discourses on soil loss in Bolivia" pp. 110-124 in R.Peet
and M.Watts 1996 Liberation Ecologies: environment, development, social
movements. London. Routledge.
Bebbington, A. J. forthcoming "Sustaining the Andes: social capital and rural
regeneration in Bolivia" Mountain Research and Development. (June 1998) Abstract
Bebbington, Anthony 1997. Social capital and rural intensification: local
organizations and islands of sustainability in the rural Andes. The Geographical
Journal, 163(2): 189-197. Abstract
Forsyth, T. 1998 "Mountain myths revisited: integrating natural and social
environmental science" Mountain Research and Development (forthcoming, June
1998).
Mitchell, W. 1991 Peasants on the Edge: crop, cult and crisis in the Andes.
Austin. University of Texas Press. (first and last chapter)
Preston, D, M. Macklin and J. Warburton. 1997 "Fewer people, less erosion:
the twentieth century in Southern Bolivia" Geographical Journal 163(2): 198-205
Abstract
Preston, D. forthcoming "Post-peasant capitalist graziers: the 21st century
in southern Bolivia" Mountain Research and Development (June 1998)
Zorn, E. 1997 "Coca, cash and cloth in highland Bolivia: the Chapare and
transformations in a traditional Andean textile economy" pp. 71-98 in M. Leons
and H. Sanabria Coca, Cocaine and the Bolivian Reality. Albany. SUNY
Press.
The West African Sahel provides many good examples of the importance of taking a historical approach to human-environment interactions. Classic articles, like those by Piers Blaikie and Tom Bassett, show how other frameworks discussed in the course have been applied in sub-Saharan Africa.
Bassett , T. 1988. The Political Ecology of Peasant-Herder Conflicts in
Northern Ivory Coast. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 78(3):
453-472
Batterbury, SPJ & Longbottom, J. 1996. Social & Environmental Change
in a Zarma village, SW Niger 1940-1996. unpublished
Batterbury, SPJ & Warren, A. 1996. Environmental History &
Agricultural change in Sub- saharan Africa. unpublished
Blaikie P. 1989. Environment and Access to resources in Africa. Africa
59(1)18-40
Croll E & Parkin D eds. 1992. Bush Base, Forest Farm. Routledge
(introduction)
Fairhead J & Leach, M 1996. Video - Second Nature.
(Borrow from S Batterbury - but I only have PAL format)
Raynault C (ed.). 1997. Societies and Nature in the Sahel. London: Routledge
(chapter by P. Delville, conclusion)
Scoones I. 1997. The Dynamics of Soil Fertility Change; historical
perspectives of environmental transformation from Zimbabwe. Geographical Journal
163(2):161-169 Abstract
Schroeder R 1997. Reclaiming land in the Gambia: gendered property rights and
environmental intervention. Annals of the Association of American Geographers
87(3)487-508
Ford R. E.
1992. Humans & the Sahelian Environment. National Geographic Research &
Exploration. 8(4):460-475 (check Bob's bookmarks!)
A big debate in West Africa at present is about the paths that farmers and pastoralists take to intensify their land use or food production, using a variety of 'adaptive' strategies. Is the region able to climb its way out of food supply problems though indigenous adaptations and by extraordinary effort and innovation? Turner et.al's. case studies are hopeful on this. Mike Mortimore has worked on this issue longer than anybody, and is curently (1998) finishing two new books on Sahelian agricultural intensification. He says yes to the question above. His work is very much in the behavioral tradition of cultural ecologists; comparative work in Kenya with Mary Tiffen (see wk. 9 above) was unusually controversial since it suggested that population growth, adaptation, markets, and colonial policy had led major environmental and social improvements over the 20th century in Machakos, Kenya. The World Bank enjoyed this argument, and it has been used to support various un-intended policy measures. Chris Reij is also an agarain populist, who sees indigenous soil conservation efforts as innovative. Most of these authors concur that human agency is adequate to overcome constraint, although Batterbury, McMillan and Davies want to see local development interventions continue in the region, rather than leaving the work to farmers. We have found that farmers are quite able to subvert most interventions to their own ends, anyway. This may be wasteful and frustrating if you are a policy maker, of course, but it is part of everyday life in this harsh and marginal environment.
Adams, WM and
Mortimore, M. 1997. Agricultural Intensification and Flexibility in the Nigerian
Sahel. The Geographical Journal. 163(2):150-160 Abstract
Amanor, K. 1994. The New Frontier - farmer responses to land degradation
(Ghana). London: Zed Press
Batterbury, SPJ. 1996. Planners or Performers? Reflections on indigenous
dryland farming in northern Burkina Faso. Agriculture & Human Values
13(3)12-22
Batterbury , SPJ. 1997. The Political Ecology of environmental management:
case studies from the Central Plateau, Burkina Faso. PhD dissertation, Clark
University. Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms
International. (my copy or - ch1, 9 reserve)
Carney, J. 1996 Converting the Wetlands, Engendering the Environment. pp.
165-187 in R.Peet and M.Watts Liberation Ecologies: environment, development,
social movements. London. Routledge.
Davies, S. 1996 Adaptable Livelihoods: Coping with Food Insecurity in the
Malian Sahel. Chichester. Wiley.
Mortimore M. 1995. Caring for the Soil: Agricultural expansion, population
growth and natural resource degradation in the Sahel. In Reenberg A &
Markussen, HS (eds.) The Sahel: ethnobotany, agricultural and pastoral
strategies, development aid strategies. Copenhagen: Institute of
Geography.
Turner, BL II, R Kates and G Hyden (ed.) 1993. Population Growth &
Agricultural Change in Africa. Gainesville: University of Florida Press.
(Introduction & conclusion)
Scoones, I et al. 1996. Hazards & Opportunities. London: Zed Press (about
Zimababwe)
McMillan D. 1995. Sahel Visions. University of Arizona Press.
Reij C, Toulmin C, Scoones I 1996 Chapter 1 of Sustaining the Soil:
Indigenous Soil and Water Conservation in Africa. London: Earthscan (also
published as IIED Drylands Network Paper, 1996)
Schroeder, R. and Suryanata, K. 1996 "Gender and class power in agroforestry
systems" pp. 188-204 in R.Peet and M.Watts 1996 Liberation Ecologies:
environment, development, social movements. London. Routledge.
Webber P. 1996. Agrarian Change in North-West Ghana. Africa
An important aspect of the immense changes that have swept through
environmental research since the 1970s is the acceptance of 'hybrid' research
methodologies, that combine systems frameworks with new scientific techniques,
and qualitative and locally-based knowledge- gathering. Today, in keeping with
post-modern social science, research attempts to consider 'local' or
unrepresented voices as an alternative to 'global' or universalizing statements
about the environment. There is a need to make current approaches to political
and social ecology more appreciative of biophysical reality (Allen &
Hoekstra); yet also to acknowledge the social and political construction of
ecological explanations (Demeritt, Descola & Palsson). Several studies
demonstrate the use of hybrid research methods (Reenberg, Scoones, Fairhead
& Leach).
Allen, TFH &
Hoekstra, TW. 1992. Towards a Unified Ecology. University of Columbia Press (or
related articles, eg Allen TFH & Hoekstra, TW. 1990. The Confusion Between
Scale-Defined Levels and Conventional levels of Organization in Ecology. Journal
of Vegetation Science 1:5-12.)
Batterbury, S. Forsyth, T and Thomson, K. 1997 "Environmental transformations
in developing countries: hybrid research and democratic policy" Geographical
Journal 163(2): 126-132.
Demeritt, D. 1994. Ecology, Objectivity & Critique in writings on nature
& human societies. Journal of Historical Geography 20:22-37
Descola, P & Palsson, G. 1996. Nature and Society: Anthropological Perspectives. London: Routledge.
Fairhead J & Leach, M 1996. Misreading the African Landscape. Cambridge
University Press (and articles by these authors) Related
article
Forsyth, T. 1998 "Mountain myths revisited: integrating natural and social
environmental science" Mountain Research and Development (forthcoming, June
1998).
Reenberg, A & Paarup-Laarsen B. 1997. Determinants for Land Use
Strategies in a Sahelian Agroecosystem. Agricultural Systems 53:209-229
Scoones, I. (ed.) 1995 Living with
Uncertainty. Intermediate Technology Publications. (Ch 1?)
Cultural
Ecology and its critics
Simon's
review of the conference on environmental entitlements
Links
Back to Geography
Courses
All
Geography Departments Everywhere
Geographical Perspectives on Natural
Hazards class at UBC, Canada
Benjamin Orlove's class on
cultural ecology at UC-Davis