CALL FOR PAPERS
Conference Session, RGS-IBG annual conference 1998
Kingston University, 5-8 January 1998.
Placing Nature: Political-Economy/Political-Ecology?
Convenors: Kate Muir, Adam Tickell, Erik Swyngedouw
Papers are invited for the above IBG-RGS session. Expressions of interest,
title and abstract (300 words) can be sent to any one of the
convenors before 1 July. Full addresses are given below.
1. Objectives
Understanding the environment is one of the key themes of the RGS-IBG
annual conference. Over the past few years, political-economists and
political-ecologists have begun to take serious interest in
theorising what is still usually referred to as 'the society/nature'
relationship. Recent critiques from a variety of corners, including
critical cultural theory, radical philosophy, history of science and
the like, have begun to problematise the binary conceptualisation
that has characterised much of the political-economic and political-
ecological literature. In addition, critical economic geographers
have until recently largely failed to take nature seriously. Again,
recent work has begun to address this issue. The objective of this
session is to bring together critical theorists, both from political-
economic and political-ecological perspectives, to reflect on two
interrelated themes. First, the session aims to articulate the ways
in which critical political-economy can inform political-ecology
perspectives and vice versa. Second, we shall seek ways to transcend
the binary view of the society/nature interaction and to contribute
to the formulation both through theoretical analysis and case-
studies, of a new and more radical approach to the environment.
2. Sessions
Session 1: Political-Economy -- Political Ecology: making the connections
The first session intends to interrogate the contributions of political-economy
and political-ecology to a critical understanding of the environment.
Although the first session intends to be mainly theoretical, it is
expected that contributors might want to explore their theoretical
concerns in the context of critical assessments of the state-of-the
art in the debate on the environment from political economic,
political-ecological and other critical perspectives.
Session 2: Placing Nature: political-ecological perspectives
The second session will bring together critical environmental analyses
from a variety of geographical domains. The main principle here will
be an attempt to show how 'Nature' can be 'Placed' in political-
economic analysis and criticial assessments of recent attempts to
transcend the binary vision of much of the society/nature debate. The
emphasis here will be on case-study work which can be either
analytical or normative.
Please send expressions of interest to:
Erik Swyngedouw
School of Geography
Mansfield Road
Oxford OX1 3TB, UK
Tel. 00-44-(0)1865-271901
FAX: 00-44-(0)1865-271929
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Kate Muir
40, Impstone Road
Pamber Heath
Hans. RG27 3EQ
Tel. 00-44-(0)1734-700099
Adam Tickell
School of Geography
Manchester University
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9PL
Tel. 00-44-(0)161 275 3673
FAX: 00-44-(0)161 2734407
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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