Liberation Ecologies

286 Pages·2002·2.31 MB·English

LIBERATION ECOLOGIES

Driven by momentous economic and political changes and by apocalyptic visions
of impending global ecological doom, the environmental question and the future
of development have taken center stage. Yet no discussion of environment or
development can begin without interrogating these keywords and the various
discourses and practices in which they are situated.
Liberation Ecologies explores contemporary debates over the real definitions of
“development” and “environment.” Bringing together some of the very best theorists
in the Development field, the book discusses the theory, growth, and impact of
political ecology, and casts new light on the effects of development on environment
in the Third World. Presenting a wide range of case studies from, amongst others,
Ecuador, Madagascar, Gambia, China, Zimbabwe, and Indonesia, the book questions
the realities and impact of sustainability, and confirms that eradicating poverty
through enhancing and protecting livelihood strategies is as much an environmental
sustainability issue as a “simple” asset or resource question.
Liberation Ecologies highlights new theoretical engagements between political ecology
and poststructuralism, and challenges many conventional notions of development,
politics, democracy, and sustainability.
Richard Peet is Professor of Geography, Clark University, Massachusetts;
Michael Watts is Professor of Geography and Director of the Institute of International
Studies, University of California, Berkeley.

LIBERATION ECOLOGIES

Environment, development, social movements
Edited by Richard Peet and
Michael Watts
London and New York
First published 1996
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2002.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

© 1996 Richard Peet and Michael Watts
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised
in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or
hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information
storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN 0-203-03292-6 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-21162-6 (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0-415-13361-0 (hbk)
ISBN 0-415-13362-9 (pbk)
CONTENTS
List of illustrations vii
List of contributors ix
Preface x
1 LIBERATION ECOLOGY
Development, sustainability, and environment in an age of
market triumphalism
Richard Peet and Michael Watts 1
2 CONSTRUCTING NATURE
Elements for a poststructural political ecology
Arturo Escobar 46
3 IMPROVED SEEDS AND CONSTRUCTED SCARCITY
Lakshman Yapa 69
4 MOVEMENTS, MODERNIZATIONS, AND MARKETS
Indigenous organizations and agrarian strategies in Ecuador
Anthony Bebbington 86
5 DISCOURSES ON SOIL LOSS IN BOLIVIA
Sustainability and the search for socioenvironmental “middle ground”
Karl S.Zimmerer 110
6 MARXISM, CULTURE, AND POLITICAL ECOLOGY
Environmental struggles in Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands
Donald S.Moore 125
7 DEFINING DEFORESTATION IN MADAGASCAR
Lucy Jarosz 148
8 CONVERTING THE WETLANDS, ENGENDERING THE
ENVIRONMENT
The intersection of gender with agrarian change in Gambia
Judith A.Carney 165
CONTENTS
9 GENDER AND CLASS POWER IN AGROFORESTRY
SYSTEMS
Case studies from Indonesia and West Africa
Richard A.Schroeder and Krisnawati Suryanata 188
10 FROM CHIPKO TO UTTARANCHAL
Development, environment, and social protest in the Garhwal
Himalayas, India
Haripriya Rangan 205
11 THE POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF AGRARIAN REFORM
IN CHINA
The case of Heilongjiang Province
Joshua S.S.Muldavin 227
12 CONCLUSION
Towards a theory of liberation ecology
Michael Watts and Richard Peet 260
Index 270
vi
ILLUSTRATIONS
TABLES
1.1 A map of development discourse 22
11.1 Natural disaster claims for Songhuajiang township, 1981–9 252
FIGURES
3.1 Improved seeds: the nexus of production relations 72
6.1 Kaerezi Resettlement Scheme and Nyanga National Park,
Zimbabwe 30
7.1 Madagascar 155
8.1 Gambia 167
8.2 Agro-ecological zones, central Gambia 169
8.3 Irrigated rice projects in Gambia 175
10.1 Uttaranchal region, northern India 212
11.1 Shifts in China’s rural political economy 232
11.2 Grain production, yields, and fertilizer use (1984–9) 235
11.3 Heilongjiang Province, China 240
11.4 (a) The process of sodic alkalinization in grasslands 243
(b) Sheep population 1949–83, Zhaozhou County 243
vii

CONTRIBUTORS
Anthony Bebbington is Professor of Geography, University of Colorado, Boulder,
Colorado.
Judith A.Carney is Professor of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles,
California.
Arturo Escobar is Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Berkeley,
California.
Lucy Jarosz is Professor of Geography, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington.
Donald S.Moore is Wantrup Fellow, Institute of International Studies, University
of California, Berkeley, California.
Joshua S.S.Muldavin is Professor of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles,
California.
Richard Peet is Professor of Geography, Graduate School of Geography, Clark
University, Worcester, Massachusetts.
Haripriya Rangan is Visiting Professor of Geography, University of Kentucky,
Lexington, Kentucky.
Richard A.Schroeder is Professor of Geography, Rutgers University, New Brunswick,
New Jersey.
Krisnawati Suryanata is Professor of Geography, University of Denver, Denver,
Colorado.
Michael Watts is Director, Institute of International Studies, University of California,
Berkeley, California.
Lakshman Yapa is Professor of Geography, Pennsylvania State University,
Pennsylvania.
Karl S.Zimmerer is Professor of Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison,
Wisconsin.
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