Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group of the Association of American
Geographers
Cultural and Political Ecology Newsletter
(CPEN #42 --
Fall 2003)
Last Updated: Mar 2004
Announcements
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Conferences, meetings, publications
Jobs/scholarships
Meeting Reports
Members'
News
Book Reviews
& Notes
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Notes
from the Chair, January 2004
Hi
all,
I just returned from a month in Mexico where the power of work in Cultural and
Political Ecology was impressed on me again and again. Whether it was in
visiting relict chinampas fields in Xochimilco (whose horticultural production
systems are fast being replaced with homes) or considering the situation of
Oaxacan coffee growers (whose situation has never been more complicated), the
benefits of wide reading across the subdiscipline paid off, even for me, the
most barbaric yanqui. And while I was a mere tourist (and an ignorant one at
that; thanks to Sarah Moore for all translation and interpretation), a visit to
a Monarch Butterfly Preserve couldn't help evoke the wealth of work in the field
on forested ejidos and ecotourism. An enormous exhibition on Humboldt in Mexico
City emphasized the common history of our many lines of pursuit and held out the
ongoing and historically deep promise of politically critical and empirically
rigorous investigation of nature/culture. The visit, moreover, reinforced the
power of our many methods, including historical demography, archaeology,
pedology, participant observation, interview, and textual analysis, among many.
Where could an understanding of the region's landscapes be without them all? Now
if only I could speak Spanish....
This unity and diversity is of course also in evidence in the range of sessions
sponsored for this year's AAG. The 35 sponsored sessions include promising
groups of papers on a huge range of topics. Be sure to join us for three special
CAPE panel sessions organized to discuss the past, present, and future of our
field at the AAG's centenary mark. These have been organized to bring together
disparate perspectives, memories, and generational concerns. Also be sure to
make the business meeting, tentatively scheduled for Thursday, 3/18/2004 from
7:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. We will complete business in our rapid and orderly manner
and elect new officers for the next two years of service. I am considering
buying some beer....
Finally, I remind everyone that nominations are still open for both the Netting
and Blaut awards, the former directed towards the integration of
Anthropology and Geography over a CAPE career, the latter towards a single
published work of critical importance; each award in the spirit of its namesake.
So too, student competitions for papers and field study awards are also open
until just prior to the meeting. Details, as always, at:
http://www.u.arizona.edu/~batterbu/cesg/cesg.html.
A happy New Year to everyone. See you in Philadelphia!
Paul Robbins robbins.30@osu.edu
Winners of Netting and Blaut awards
The winner of the 2004 Robert McC. Netting Award - in recognition of
distinguished research and professional activities that bridge geography and
anthropology - is Prof. Lawrence Grossman. A testimonial will be ready shortly
after the Philadelphia meeting.
Winner of the 2003 James M. Blaut Award in recognition of innovative scholarship
in cultural and political ecology, as demonstrated by publication of
"Colonialism and Landscape" (2002, Rowman & Littlefield) is Prof. Andrew Sluyter.
The forthcoming testimonial review will be ready shortly after the Philadelphia
meeting.
Thanks to all the members for their nominations and to the executive for their
thoughtful deliberation.
Conservation Ecology
journal has been renamed Ecology and Society. Go
here.
Participatory
Mapping of Indigenous Lands in Latin America is a special Issue of Human Organization, Volume 62, Number 4, Winter 2003.
Copies are available for $15.00/copy. Add $3.50
for postage and handling (domestic). Contact Tom May for international postage
rates. There is a 20% discount for orders of 5 copies or more (for classroom
use, for example).
Send requests for orders to:
Tom May,
Executive Director,
Society for Applied Anthropology,
PO Box 2436, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73101-2436. <tom@sfaa.net>.
Guest Editors are Peter H. Herlihy and Gregory Knapp.
-
Maps of, by, and for the Peoples of Latin America. Peter H Herlihy and Gregory
Knapp
-
Participatory Research Mapping of Indigenous Lands in Darien, Panama. Peter H
Herlihy
-
Participatory Mapping of Community Lands and Hunting Yields Among the Bugle of
Western Panama. Derek A. Smith
-
Mapping Dreams in Nicaragua’s Bosawas Reserve. Anthony Stocks
-
Mapping the Past and Future: Geomatics and Indigenous Territories in the
Peruvian Amazon. Richard Chase Smith, Margarita Benavides, Mario Pariona, and
Ernesto Tuesta
-
Rights, Resources, and the Social Memory of Struggle: Reflections on the Study
of Indigenous and Black Community Land Rights on Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast.
Edmund T Gordon, Galio C Gurdian, and Charles R Hale
-
Narrating Place and Identity, or Mapping Miskitu Land Claims in Northeastern
Nicaragua. Karl Offen
Members' (or those who should be..) News
The 31
October 2003 issue of Science announces the new Fellows of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science, and among them is Kent Mathewson of
the Department of Geography and Anthropology of Louisiana State University. Kent
joins a handful of geographers who are AAAS Fellows, and LSU
Geography and Anthropology are real proud of him. The only other of the LSU faculty
who is an AAAS Fellow is the distinguished geomorphologist Jes Walker. Kent, as
many CAPE members know, has been very active in the specialty group since the
CESG days, serving as Chair and in various other board capacities over the years
and as newsletter editor for an unprecedented dozen issues.
Andrew Sluyter, Louisiana State University
Hires
David Cochran (PhD student, Kansas University) has been appointed
assistant professor, University of Southern Mississippi.
Simon Batterbury
(Assistant Professor, University of Arizona and
nomad political ecologist) has been appointed
lecturer, School of Geography, Anthropology and
Environmental Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia from July 2004.
Emma Mawdsley (lecturer, University of
Durham) has been appointed lecturer, Birkbeck College, University of London from
July 2003.
Christian Kull (Assistant Professor, McGill
University) has been appointed senior lecturer, Department of Geography and
Environmental Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia from July 2003.
Michael Steinberg (Assistant Professor,
University of Southern Maine) has been appointed cultural
biogeographer at the US Department of Agriculture's National Plant Data
Center in Baton Rouge, LA. In addition to his current research duties
with the USDA, he has also been hired as acquisitions editor for geography and
environmental studies at LSU Press. His new email address is
mstein5@lsu.edu
Craig Thorburn (PhD, UCLA) has been
appointed
senior lecturer and
coordinator of the Masters Program in
International Development and Environmental Analysis,
Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, Monash University,
Melbourne, Australia
from July 2003.
All
CPESG members, and others, are invited to submit reviews of
books that would be of interest to our Specialty Group.
Publishers are invited to send books to the Editor, and willing
reviewers are sought.
Moseley,
W.G. and B.I. Logan. (eds.) 2003. African Environment and Development:
Rhetoric, Programs, Realities. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing Limited.
(ISBN 0-7546-3904-5). 256 pgs.
This edited volume explores the connections between African rural livelihoods,
environmental integrity and broader scale political economy. Including case
studies from Southern, West and East Africa, the book examines a wide range of
livelihood activities (pastoralism, farming, gardening and hunting) and
environmental issues (e.g., dam projects, cash cropping, burning practices,
civil war, pesticide use, oil exploitation, community-based natural resources
management and transnational parks). The studies demonstrate the necessity of
grounding environment and development policy discussions within a broader
understanding of the economy, history, politics and power.
Contents
African environment and development: an introduction, B. Ikubolajeh Logan and
William G. Moseley. Environmental Narratives and African Realities:
Ideology and power in resource management: from sustainable development to
environmental security in Africa, B. Ikubolajeh Logan; Environmental
degradation and 'Poor' smallholders in the West African Sudano-Sahel: global
discourses and local realities, William G. Moseley; Grounding environmental
narratives: the impact of a century of fighting against fire in Mali, Paul
Laris. Political Economy, Rural Livelihoods and the Environment: War
and the environmental effects of displacement in Southern Africa
(1970s-1990s), Emmanuel Kreike; Pesticides, politics and pest management:
toward a political ecology of cotton in Sub-Saharan Africa, Jim Bingen; A
local graft takes hold: the political ecology of commercial horticultural
production in rural Mali, Stephen R. Wooten; Risk positions and local politics
in a Sahelian society: the Fulbe of the Hayre in central Mali, Mirjam de
Bruijn and Han van Dijk. Global Environmental Politics and Conservation in
Africa: Buying (into) and selling conservation among Maasai in Southern
Kenya, Jennifer E. Coffman; Placing the local in the transnational?
Communities and conservation across borders in Southern Africa, Rachel B.
DeMotts; '(S)hell in Nigeria': the environmental impact of oil politics in
Ogoniland on Shell International, Phia Steyn; Whither African environment and
development?, William G. Moseley; Index.
Moseley, W.G. (ed.) 2003. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial
African Issues. Guilford, CT: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin. (ISBN 0-07-284517-1).
This is a debate-style reader designed to introduce students to controversies
in African Studies. The readings, representing the arguments of historians,
political scientists, geographers, anthropologists, educators and economists,
reflect a variety of viewpoints and are organized around 20 key issues facing
the African continent today. By requiring students to analyze opposing
viewpoints and reach considered judgments, "Taking Sides" actively seeks to
develop critical thinking skills. You may examine the book's table of
contents and order an examination copy at:
http://www.dushkin.com/text-data/catalog/0072845171.mhtml?SECTION=TOC#toc
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