Description

Book Synopsis
This book considers how nature - in both its biological and environmental manifestations - has been invoked as a dynamic force in human history. It shows how historians, philosophers, geographers, anthropologists and scientists have used ideas of nature to explain the evolution of cultures, to understand cultural difference, and to justify or condemn colonization, slavery and racial superiority. It examines the central part that ideas of environmental and biological determinism have played in theory, and describes how these ideas have served in different ways at different times as instruments of authority, identity and defiance. The book shows how powerful and problematic the invocation of nature can be.

Table of Contents
Foreword.

1. Introduction.

2. The Place of Nature.

3. Reappraising Nature.

4. Environment as Catastrophe.

5. Crossing Biological Boundaries.

6. The Ecological Frontier.

7. The Environmental Revolution.

8. Inventing Tropicality.

9. Colonizing Nature.

Conclusion.

Guide to Further Reading.

Index.

The Problem of Nature

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    A Paperback / softback by David Arnold

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      Book details

      Publisher John Wiley and Sons Ltd
      Published 23 August 1996
      ISBN-13 9780631190219
      978-0631190219
      ISBN-10 063119021X
      Also in:
      Earth Sciences, Geography & Environment The environment Historical geography History: theory and methods

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      This book considers how nature - in both its biological and environmental manifestations - has been invoked as a dynamic force in human history. It shows how historians, philosophers, geographers, anthropologists and scientists have used ideas of nature to explain the evolution of cultures, to understand cultural difference, and to justify or condemn colonization, slavery and racial superiority. It examines the central part that ideas of environmental and biological determinism have played in theory, and describes how these ideas have served in different ways at different times as instruments of authority, identity and defiance. The book shows how powerful and problematic the invocation of nature can be.

      Table of Contents
      Foreword.

      1. Introduction.

      2. The Place of Nature.

      3. Reappraising Nature.

      4. Environment as Catastrophe.

      5. Crossing Biological Boundaries.

      6. The Ecological Frontier.

      7. The Environmental Revolution.

      8. Inventing Tropicality.

      9. Colonizing Nature.

      Conclusion.

      Guide to Further Reading.

      Index.

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