Suchergebnisse

Emerging moments in an urban political ecology -- The Urbanization of nature: Neil Smith and posthumanist controversies -- Sensuous socio-natures: The concept of nature in Marx -- Cyborg consciousness: questioning the dialectics of nature in Lukács -- When theory becomes a material force: Gramsci's conjunctural natures -- Cultural praxis as the production of nature: Lefebvrean Natures -- The Nature of everyday life.

Everyday Envirnomentalism develops a conversation between marxist theories of everyday life and recent work in urban political ecology, arguing for a philosophy of praxis in relation to the politics of urban environments. Grounding its theoretical debate in empirical studies of struggles to obtain water in the informal settlements of Durban, South Africa, as well as in the creative acts of insurgent art activists in London, Alex Loftus builds on the work of key marxist thinkers to refine "environmental politics". A marxist philosophy of praxis that world-changing ideas emerge from the acts of everyday people undergirds the book.

However conceptualised, the institutions and relations associated with the state are clearly crucial to political ecological research. Environmental policies are enacted through state institutions, and property rights over land and resources are enforced by the legal framework and monopoly power associated with the state form. Nevertheless, political ecologists have sometimes had an uneasy relationship with conceptualisations of the state, leading to recurring questions over the adequacy of political ecological theorisations. Over the last decade and a half such questions have led to a call for dialogues with political geography and, more recently, with critical geopolitics. In this second progress report, I review recent political ecological theorisations of the state, pointing to a set of shared concerns associated with the processes, relations and struggles through which states are brought into being and acquire certain effects. I will conclude with a note of caution when it comes to an uncritical dialogue with more abstract interpretations of state power.

AbstractIn this article I seek to bring together recent work on 'the production of nature' with feminist standpoint theories. I do this in order to explore some of the potentials for democratic change in the South African city of Durban. In spite of the shared methodological assumptions of the two bodies of work, there has been little effort to develop a dialogue. In initiating this, I begin by outlining some of the theoretical foundations underlying the two theories. Then I go on to suggest some of the ways in which a relational approach to urban environments sheds light upon the politics of water service provision in Durban. From this, I suggest that a feminist standpoint approach might open up different possibilities for democratic change. However, I argue that this should begin not from a romantic view of some untainted or non‐reified consciousness of the socio‐natural but rather from the situated knowledges that emerge from the struggle to survive in a world defined by both capitalist and non‐capitalist social relationships.

"Political ecology is one of the most vibrant fields of environmental research. This book introduces political ecology to a new generation of students in a daring new way: as an interdisciplinary approach to environmental research but also as a series of lived realities and a praxis for change. The origins of political ecology are often traced through an Anglo-American canon. In Discovering Political Ecology, Gustav Cederlöf and Alex Loftus instead take up the challenge of presenting the key conversations and the diverse traditions that have shaped this field with attention to its extensive international roots. Inspired by voices and research in Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, the authors address the concerns of those who from different social backgrounds have grown up in a world shaped by climate change and increasing environmental inequalities.Engaging and accessible in style, Discovering Political Ecology introduces a set of key concepts around which conversations in political ecology coalesce. It also shows how these concepts allow you to make sense of some of the most pressing issues of our time-issues around water, energy, agriculture, forestry, climate change and environmental justice. Each chapter includes learning outcomes and suggested further readings, extensive bibliographies and seminar activities to be used by students and educators. At the cutting-edge of the field, the book will be of interest to those in all disciplines brought together in political ecology, including but not limited to anthropology, development studies, ecology, geography, history and political science"--

Foreword / Leo Heller -- The right to water in a global context : challenges and transformations / Farhana Sultana and Alex Loftus -- Valuing water : rights, resilience, and the UN High-Level Panel on Water / Jeremy Schmidt -- Making space for practical authority : policy formalization and the right to water in Mexico / Katie Meehan -- Turning to traditions : three cultural-religious articulations of fresh waters' value(s) in contemporary governance frameworks / Christiana Zenner -- The right to bring waters into being / Jamie Linton -- The rights to water and food : exploring the synergies / Lyla Mehta and Daniel Langmeier -- Water-security capabilities and the human right to water / Wendy Jepson, Amber Wutich and Leila Harris -- Rights on the edge of the city : realizing of the right to water in informal settlements in Bolivia / Anna Walnycki -- Human right to water and bottled water consumption : governing at the intersection of water justice, rights, and ethics / Raul Pacheco-Vega -- Against the trend : structure and agency in the struggle for public water in Europe / Andreas Bieler -- Remunicipalization and the human right to water : a signifier half full? / David McDonald -- Citizen mobilization for water : the case of Thessaloniki, Greece / Jerry van den Berge, Rutgerd Boelens and Jeroen Vos -- Race, austerity and water in the US : fighting for the human right to water in Detroit and Flint, Michigan / Cristy Clark -- Class, race, space and the "right to sanitation" : the limits of neoliberal toilet technologies in Durban, South Africa / Patrick Bond.

Scholarship on the right to water has proliferated in interesting and unexpected ways in recent years. This book broadens existing discussions on the right to water in order to shed critical light on the pathways, pitfalls, prospects, and constraints that exist in achieving global goals, as well as advancing debates around water governance and water justice. The book shows how both discourses and struggles around the right to water have opened new perspectives, and possibilities in water governance, fostering new collective and moral claims for water justice, while effecting changes in laws and policies around the world. In light of the 2010 UN ratification on the human right to water and sanitation, shifts have taken place in policy, legal frameworks, local implementation, as well as in national dialogues. Chapters in the book illustrate the novel ways in which the right to water has been taken up in locations drawn globally, highlighting the material politics that are enabled and negotiated through this framework in order to address ongoing water insecurities. This book reflects the urgent need to take stock of debates in light of new concerns around post-neoliberal political developments, the challenges of the Anthropocene and climate change, the transition from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), as well as the mobilizations around the right to water in the global North. This book is essential reading for scholars andstudents of water governance, environmental policy, politics, geography, and law. It will be of great interest to policymakers and practitioners working in water governance, as well asthe human right to water and sanitation.