Description
Book SynopsisResource and environmental management generally entail an attempt by governing authorities to dominate, reroute, and tame the natural flows of water, the growth of forests, manage the populations of non-human bodies, and control nature more generally. Often this is done under the mantle of conservation, economic development, and sustainable management, but still involves a quest to “civilize” and control all aspects of nature for a specific purpose.
The results of this form of environmental management and governance are many, but by and large, across the globe, it has meant governments construct a specific idea regarding nature and the environment. These forms of control also extend beyond the natural environment, allowing for particular methods of managing human and non-human populations in order to maintain power and enact sovereignty.
This volume contributes to advancing an ‘ecology of freedom,’ which can critique current anthropocentric environmental destruction, as well as focusing on environmental justice and decentralized ecological governance. While concentrating on these areas of anarchist political ecology, three major themes emerged from the chapters: the legacies of colonialism that continue to echo in current resource management and governance practices, the necessity of overcoming human/nature dualisms for environmental justice and sustainability, and finally discussions and critiques of extractivism as a governing and economic mentality.
Trade ReviewEnergies Beyond the State is a compendium of 10 chapters addressing broad issues, such as an anarchist ecology of environmental displacement and the international impact of capital and more specific issues, such as those relating to uranium and dams. Editors Mateer, Springer, Locret-Collet, and Acker include thought-provoking, relatively radical anarchist/neo-Marxist perspectives regarding environmental problems and potential solutions to those problems. The volume also introduces and applies a novel perspective, the TORSO (TerritOry-Resources-Societal Organization) framework, to analyze various environmental problem areas.
* Choice Reviews *
Table of ContentsPreface, John P. Clark
Introduction: The Political Ecology of Resource and Energy Management Beyond the State, Jennifer Mateer, Simon Springer, and Martin Locret-Collet
Chapter 1. Panoptic Geography: Man and Nature under Surveillance, Sotiris Lycourghiotis and George Poulados
Chapter 2. Uranium: Capitalism, Colonialism, and Ecology, Chris Colella
Chapter 3. Moving Beyond borders: Anarchist Political Ecology and Evironmental Displacement, Nicolas Parent
Chapter 4. Questioning Capitalistic Power Structures: A Way to Reconnect People with Lands? Simon Maraud and Etienne Delay
Chapter 5. When the Wolf Guards the Sheep: Confronting the Industrial Machine through Green Extractivism in Germany and Mexico, Alexander Dunlap and Andrea Brock
Chapter 6. Dismantling the Dam Hierarchies, Jennifer Mateer
Chapter 7. The Conservation of Anarchy: Ethnographic Reflections on Forest Policies and Resource Use, Philipp Zehmisch
Chapter 8. Blockading Hamburg: Green Syndicalism vs. G20, Ryan Thompson
Chapter 9. Rising Above the Thinking Behind Climate Change: World Ecology and Workers' Control, Ben Debney
Chapter 10. The Soft Hand of Capital, Deric Shannon and Clara Perez-Medina
