My "afterword" to a special issue of Geoforum has just appeared � a short essay titled "Ecological concepts: Seeing, placing, imposing". It joins several other very interesting essays in this issue, by Laura Cameron, Sinead Earley, Kirsten Greer, Dolly J�rgensen and Robert Wilson. Together, they examine the history and meaning of some key ecological concepts. In my essay I make some observations about how various concepts � like ecosystems, invasive species, biodiversity, resilience, and many others � have framed how scientists study and understand nature, have become linked to particular places, and have had political implications.
Just to give a sense of where I'm coming from, here's the last paragraph:
These aspects of concepts also present an interesting paradox: entangled in
politics and social preferences, their authority nevertheless stems from their status as
distilled representations of reality: just what science is supposed to provide. And with
this authority comes power. It is not surprising, therefore, that debates about the
environment are often not about specific places or issues, but concepts � like the
Anthropocene � that are stand-ins for concerns about humanity's place in the global
environment. At the same time, debates today about other concepts � such as equity,
autonomy, and indigenous rights � testify to the shifting terrain of environmental politics:
a questioning of assumptions about who has authority over the environment.
Understanding how these concepts have emerged and played roles in global and local
political debates can be the shared project of historians of science, environmental
historians, historical geographers and political ecologists. Making concepts transparent,
opening up the workings of knowledge and power they represent, can provide a basis for
questioning them, enabling multiple ways of thinking, empowering those excluded from
their operations, and encouraging the free play of creativity and complexity. At stake is
the prospect of more effective and democratic forms of scientific expertise � what a
concept.
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