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POLITICS OF NATURE POLITICS OF NATURE How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy ▲ ▲ ▲ Bruno Latour Translatedby CatherinePorter HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge,Massachusetts London,England 2004 Copyright©2004bythePresidentandFellowsofHarvardCollege Allrightsreserved PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica ThisbookwasoriginallypublishedasPolitiquesdelanature,byEditionsLaDécouverte,Paris. libraryofcongresscataloging-in-publicationdata Latour,Bruno. [Politiquesdelanature.English] Politicsofnature:howtobringthesciencesinto democracy/BrunoLatour;translatedbyCatherinePorter. p. cm. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN0-674-01289-5(cloth)—ISBN0-674-01347-6(pbk.) 1.Politicalecology. I.Title. JA75.8.L3813 2004 320.5′8—dc22 2003057134 ForIsabelleStengers,VincianeDespret,andDavidWestern, threetruepractitionersofcosmopolitics Acknowledgments The French Ministry of the Environment, through its Division of Studies and Research, has generously supported this unconventional basicresearchprojectthataimedfromtheoutsetattheproductionof abook(contractno.96060).Itgoeswithoutsayingthattheministryis innowayresponsiblefortheresult.Ihavebenefitedthroughoutfrom theindispensablesupportofClaudeGilbert,whoseliaisonworkmade it possible to create a French environment conducive to original re- searchoncollectiverisk.IthankthestudentsoftheLondonSchoolof Economics,andespeciallyNoortjeMarres,forhelpingmeduringtwo coursesItaughtthereonthepoliticsofnatureandforgivingthisen- terprise its definitive form. I am immensely grateful to the experts who first agreed to put my drafts to the test, especially Marie-Angèle Hermitte, Gérard de Vries, and Laurent Thévenot. To name all the otherswouldmeanprematurelyexposingtheextentofmylimitations andmydebts.Theirmostimportantcontributionsareincludedinthe notes.IalsothankGrahamHarmanformanywittycommentsonthe Frenchedition. This book could not have progressed without the invaluable work done by Florian Charvolin on the Ministry of the Environment, by Rémi Barbier on waste products, by Patricia Pellegrini on farm ani- mals,byElizabethRémyonhigh-tensionpowerlines,byJean-Claude Petit on nuclear reactors, by Yannick Barthe on the burial of radioac- tive waste, and by Vololona Rabeharisoa and Michel Callon on the FrenchMuscularDystrophyAssociation. I have dedicated this work to Isabelle Stengers and Vinciane ACKNOWLEDGMENTS viii Despret. I shamelessly looted Stengers’ Cosmopolitics, as well as Callon’s research on the anthropology of the market. During the two years I spent writing this book, my constant aim was to do justice to the truly historic experience of my friend David Western, then direc- toroftheKenyaWildlifeServiceatacriticaljuncture—althoughIre- mained well aware of the immense distance separating the politics of nature that I was drafting in my study among the meditative cows of theBourbonnaisfromthepoliticsofnaturethathepracticeseveryday inthefieldamongelephants,Masai,tourists,internationaldonors,lo- cal politicians, and herds of buffalo and gnus—not to mention his “dear colleagues” and other meat-eating species . . . For theEnglish edition, I abstained from making any major modifications, except for deletingtheannextoChapter1.Ieditedandupdatedsomeofthefoot- notes, deleted those relevant only for the French, and added a few to address objections made since the original publication. I made very fewchangesinthebodyofthetext,exceptforclarification.Thosemi- nor deletions and additions are entirely due to me and not to the translator,CatherinePorter,fromwhoseremarkableskillandbenevo- lenceIwasfortunateenoughtoprofitonceagain. Contents Introduction:What Is to Be Done with Political Ecology? 1 1. Why Political Ecology Has to Let Go of Nature 9 First,GetOutoftheCave 10 EcologicalCrisisorCrisisofObjectivity? 18 TheEndofNature 25 ThePitfallof“SocialRepresentations”ofNature 32 TheFragileAidofComparativeAnthropology 42 WhatSuccessorfortheBicameralCollective? 49 2. How to Bring the Collective Together 53 DifficultiesinConvokingtheCollective 57 FirstDivision:LearningtoBeCircumspectwithSpokespersons 62 SecondDivision:AssociationsofHumansandNonhumans 70 ThirdDivisionbetweenHumansandNonhumans: RealityandRecalcitrance 77 AMoreorLessArticulatedCollective 82 TheReturntoCivilPeace 87 3. A New Separation of Powers 91 SomeDisadvantagesoftheConceptsofFactandValue 95 ThePowertoTakeintoAccountandthePowertoPutinOrder 102 TheCollective’sTwoPowersofRepresentation 108