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Cultural
and Political Ecology Newsletter
(CPEN #43
-- Spring 2004)
Last
Updated: July 2004
Announcements
Calls: Conferences,
meetings, publications
Jobs/scholarships
Meeting Reports
Members' News
Book Reviews & Notes
Announcements
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Signing
off from the editor
After
five years at the helm, I have decided to step down from the helm of the CAPE Newsletter. The proximate reason
is that I am moving to the University
of Melbourne in Australia, and distance from North
America will make keeping in touch with the pulse of the Group,
and attendance at the annual meetings, more difficult.
I
always enjoyed receiving the Newsletter when I was a graduate student
at Clark. I started editing it while
teaching geography at Brunel University in Britain (a fine Department, now
faced with closure as the result of the university restructuring typical of
British universities), before moving to the London School of Economics and
teaching some dauntingly talented graduate students on the Masters in
Environment and Development for a couple of years. Distance from America
seemed to make little difference since the LSE was a hub for all sorts of
networks - Group members that showed up in London included Harold Brookfield
(who actually did his PhD at LSE, well before I was born!), Susanne
Freidberg, David Carr, Piers Blaikie, Bill Adams, Tony Bebbington, Larry
Grossman, Nayna Jhaveri, Doug Johnson, Ben Wisner and Paul Robbins. Many of
my LSE students are now embedded in international NGOs and the UN system,
practicing their craft. I moved to a more permanent job at the University of
Arizona in 2001 - political ecology at the LSE lives on since Tim Forsyth
continues to teach the Masters and Ben Wisner is a visiting fellow. At the University of Arizona
I discovered a fascinating range of new research topics, and a node of
political ecology - the work of Tom Sheridan in anthropology, Diana Liverman
in geography, human ecologist Steve Lansing, and colleagues Jim Greenberg and
Tad Park, with whom I now edit the Journal of Political
Ecology. To teach a graduate seminar in political ecology was a
natural step. We were surrounded by threatened desert ecosystems, artifical
lawns, land wrested form local peoples, and all the trappings of Western
power-politics. Yet key departures at UofA, the deadening hand of current US
politics, and worries over my family's temporary visa status have prompted a
further move (winning me the "Grass is Always Greener" award -
highly appropriate if you know Tucson's environmental conditions - and a
substantial roasting, at the Departmental dinner this year!). I am joining an
emerging hub of activity in Melbourne,
where there are groups of faculty and students at Monash, RMIT and U. Melbourne,
good PhD and Masters possibilities, and a strong environmentalist presence.
One
of my key points over the years as editor is that cultural and political
ecology are truly international (see previous issues of this Newsletter,
and the Centennial plenary session commentaries to be published here soon).
So Australia
is not that far. While many of us conduct research overseas, our audiences
are firmly at home in our universities and journals. Yet our field has always
operated with a series of "nodes" in places like southern California and London,
where the quotient of nature-society geographers is above average, with more
isolated researchers spread out mainly in North America.
Or so it seems. The message I have tried to impart in the Newsletter
is that the nodes and networks are far more widespread, multi-lingual, and
exist in cognate fields. Since ours is the only group in geography devoted to
the field, internationalization is something CAPE
needs to promote - there are no comparable specialty groups in other
countries. Thus, the role of academic networks like ours is not only to reach
out, but also to absorb, read, and network with the work of international
scholars.
In
my case, the field has been attractive not only because of its analytical
power - to explain everything from West African drought management to
international development failures - but also because it signals the
importance of environmental concerns and "loss" in a fast-changing
world. It can make empirically justifiable arguments about land use change,
environmental quality, and sustainability that result from the pace of
globalization, development, prolifigate resource use and everyday activity,
both here in the USA
and internationally. I see fast-changing human-environment relationships
everywhere I travel - perhaps an unhealthy geographical obsession! Cultural
and political ecology, for me, is more than a set of analytical techniques,
and is not constrained to the academic environment in North
America. I think some of our Award winners, and Group members,
share this ecumenical view - at least I hope so.
The
Newsletter has moved with me, and it has had three different web
addresses over the last five years. It has certainly kept me busy, and I have
enjoyed receiving your information, and appropriating more from disparate
sources - obscure web sites and conference gossip have certainly played a
role. There is something rather satisfying about being your own editor, and
circulating information within minutes of its arrival - this, really, is one
of the major advantages of the web. I hope the Newsletter will
flourish as Eric Perramond takes over web editing duties this summer.
Best
wishes and thanks for reading. Keep in touch.
Simon
Batterbury
New
officers
At
the Philadelphia AAG meeting, a new slate of Officers were elected. The new
Chair is Brad Jokisch of Ohio
University. Details here
Winners
of 2004 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 of Virginia Tech. A testimonial by Phil Porter is posted.
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 Andrew Sluyter of Louisiana State University.
Winner
of the 2004 Student Awards
The
outgoing CAPE executive committee is pleased to announce the 2004 recipients
of the CAPE student awards.
The 2004 Cultural and Political Ecology Student Paper Award,
with its cash prize of $100, goes to Farhana Sultana, University of
Minnesota, for her paper, "Water water everywhere, but not a drop to
drink: Analyzing the drinking water crisis in Bangladesh"
The 2004 Cultural and Political Ecology Student Field Study Award,
worth $500, goes to Clark Gray, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill,
for his proposed project addressing transnational migration and environmental
change.
The winners were the best among many excellent entries in both categories. We
therefore congratulate all of the student entrants for representing the
strong work being proposed and completed by students in the field. Paul
Robbins
Member's
survey 2004
A
members survey was launched a few months ago to canvas views on 1) "Which
are the three works (articles, books, documentaries, etc.) in the field of
cultural/political ecology that have been most influential for you, your
work, and/or your way of thinking?" and 2) "What are the most
pressing questions to which research in the field should be turned?".
Younger faculty members and graduate students were most numerous among the
respondents. The result and discussion are reported here.
Paul
Robbins
Minutes
from 2004 AAG Cultural and Political Ecology Specialty Group Meeting, Philadelphia, 18 March
2004
1. Chair Paul Robbins called the meeting to order at 7:10
pm. Approximately 35 members were in attendance.
2. Minutes from the previous year (March 2003) were
approved.
3. Agenda was reviewed; Chair reported on AAG specialty
group chairs’ meeting, at which specialty groups were encouraged to used the
AAG’s centralized budget system (CAPE already does), and during which
apologies were made for the quality of Centennial program. Also:
a. The Chair drew attention to posters summarizing results of an
informal e-mail survey of members. With data from 50+ respondents, the poster
tabulated works CAPE members found particularly
influential.
b. The Chair thanked all participants in the three highly
successful CAPE Centennial Sessions on 16 March.
c. The Chair reminded students to submit papers and
proposals for CAPE
Paper and Field Study Student
awards.
d. It was announced that James McCarthy (Penn State)
has accepted responsibility for the CAPE listserv.
The system is now set up so that “Reply to sender” messages should go to one
individual only.
4. Secretary/Treasurer Kendra McSweeney reviewed the current
budget. Due to a new accounting system put in place in 2003, it is harder for
AAG budget reporting to be reconciled with a specialty group’s own
accounting. Nevertheless, according to data collected in 2003 and 2004
regarding expenditures and membership dues, it appears that CAPE can
anticipate a $200-$300 surplus for fiscal year 2004-2005 (beginning June
2005). Of note:
a. AAG had not yet implemented the increase in CAPE dues approved by the membership in 2002 (from $5
to $6 for faculty). To implement this increase, the incoming
Secretary/Treasurer will need to communicate directly with Robert Adelman at
the AAG (i.e., NOT with Paul Abel, who does not oversee dues rates).
b. Final figures should be available in April 2004.
5. CAPE Website and Newsletter. Simon Batterbury was thanked
for his years of service as Webmaster and Newsletter
editor. Eric Perramond (Stetson U.) accepted responsibility for managing the CAPE webpage.
This also means managing the CAPE newsletter, in coordination with the CAPE Chair
and Executive. The question was raised about how to draw new members’
attention to the website. Because AAG is slow to update specialty groups of
new members, CAPE members and the Executive
were urged to spread the news about the website within their own
universities. In future, the new Chair will need to be persistent in
requesting periodic updates on membership from AAG.
6. The election of the new officers for 2004-2006 period was
preceded by a brief overview of the duties of each office.
a. Paul Robbins noted that the duties of the Chair are to
receive and pass on emails; send out a twice-yearly memo to membership (via
the listserv); and be official liaison with the AAG, which includes:
attending Specialty Group Chairs’ Meeting, clearing session sponsorship for
AAG meetings, organizing special sessions, and coordinating and announcing
awards.
b. Kendra McSweeney: duties of the Secretary/Treasurer are
to take and record the minutes of annual meetings, to manage the CAPE budget
through the AAG (including keeping track of new members, dues, and requests
for disbursements), to report on state of budget at annual meeting, and to
read and evaluate student awards.
c. Regional Councilors (three) read and evaluate student awards,
and to work with the Chair to organize sessions for AAG meetings.
d. Student Representative(s): to read and evaluate student
awards, and to act as liaison between CAPE
and graduate students
7. Nominations were then opened for the new Officers.
a. Brad Jokisch (Ohio
University) was
nominated as Chair and unanimously approved.
b. Anthony Abbott was nominated as Secretary/Treasurer and
unanimously approved.
c.
Regional Councilors:
i.
Bill Moseley (Macalaster; Central Councilor)—approved unanimously
ii.
James McCarthy (PSU; Eastern Councilor)—approved unanimously
iii.
Dereka Rushbrook (Arizona;
Western Councilor)—approved unanimously. It was noted that Dereka is ABD, but
PhD conferral is considered imminent.
iv.
Student Representative(s): There were three nominees for this position:
Michael Goodman (UCSC), Gabriela Valdivia (U Minnesota), and Deb Sinha
(Clark). Each candidate introduced themselves and briefly described their
work. Rather than voting to elect a single student Rep, the Chair proposed
that CAPE rules be amended to accept up to
three student Reps, reflecting as much as possible the three regions used to
elect Councilors. The motion was approved; the three nominees were then
approved.
8. The Chair announced the winners of the Netting Award
(Lawrence Grossman) and the Blaut Award (Andrew Sluyter). Neither recipient was present to accept
their awards but it was noted that each had already extended thanks and
appreciation to CAPE.
9. The membership thanked the Chair, Paul Robbins, for his
leadership during 2002-04. The Chair then thanked the outgoing board for
their work.
10. Diana
Liverman moved to adjourn the meeting at 7:40 pm.
Recorded
by Susannah McCandless and Kendra McSweeney; submitted to CAPE Chair
by K. McSweeney 20 April 2004.
Calls; conferences, meetings, publications
Environment,
Development and Sustainability:
a multidisciplinary approach to the theory and practice of Sustainable
Development is a journal that has been
going since 1999. Although occasionally publishing some doom-watcher articles
about long term sustainability and population-environment relationships, it
looks to be a good outlet.
The
Journal of Transdisciplinary
Environmental Studies is a free web journal published by Roskilde University
in Denmark.
Watch it evolve. The people at Roskilde
are great - and include geographers, environmental scientists, and
international development specialists.
Conference
Announcement: "Environmental Justice abroad." New Brunswick, New Jersey, October 16, 2004. Sponsored by the Graduate Program in
Geography, Rutgers
University. Recent
efforts to apply the key concepts of third world political ecology to core
industrialized countries, and parallel moves to extend environmental justice
analysis to resource management conflicts on the periphery represent some of
the most exciting new developments in geography and related disciplines. The
Rutgers Graduate Program in Geography now invites participation in a one-day
conference devoted to the theme: “Environmental Justice Abroad.” This is the
second of two events organized under the rubric: “Political Ecology at
Home/Environmental Justice Abroad” (the first was held in 2003). Scholars
interested in participating in the “Environmental Justice Abroad” workshop on
October 16, 2004 should submit a 200-word abstract of a proposed paper topic
and two-page curriculum vitae to conference organizers by June 15, 2004.
Pending receipt of sufficient funding, as many as a dozen scholars may be
invited to attend, with one or two slots reserved for advanced graduate
students. Organizers will respond with formal invitations and additional
details on the conference format by early August to facilitate timely travel
planning. General inquiries about the conference may be directed to any of
the organizers listed below. Guest scholars will have all travel expenses
covered by the conference and will receive a small honorarium. Conference
proceedings will be featured on the Rutgers Geography Program website in
order to provide access for those who cannot attend in person. One
peer-reviewed journal has already expressed an interest in publishing the
conference proceedings.
Environmental
justice scholars have traditionally been concerned with urban and industrial
settings and the disproportionate burden of hazardous wastes and noxious land
uses borne by poor communities and communities of color in advanced
capitalist countries. Recent contributions to this literature have, however,
sought to extend this mode of analysis to geographical settings within the
global south. They have also expanded the field’s scope of inquiry beyond
questions related to distributive justice (equality of benefits/burdens) to
embrace civil rights (environmental racism), public participation (democratic
decision-making), social justice (political-economic, social and cultural
power relations), and ecological sustainability (inter-generational ethics).
The proposed conference has been organized to explore both these new concepts
and their application by scholars and activists in new global contexts.
Conference
organizers: Richard Schroeder,
732/445-4019; Email: rschroed@rci.rutgers.edu,
Kevin St. Martin, 732/445-7394; Email: kstmarti@rci.rutgers.edu, Bradley
Wilson, PhD Candidate Ph: 732/729-1468; Email: bradwils@yahoo.com.
Conference
organizers invite participation by critical human geographers,
anthropologists, environmental sociologists and others whose work makes an
original contribution to this growing field of inquiry, perhaps by addressing
one or more of the following themes. Papers adopting explicit north/south
comparative frameworks are especially welcome:
·
Justice concepts embedded in diverse legal systems
·
Justice and rights discourse
·
Property, tenure and resource access
·
Indigeneity and sovereignty
·
Moral economies
·
Private/public property disputes
·
EJ movements abroad
·
Transnational movement linkages
·
Gender justice
·
Toxic geographies
·
Eminent domain and the state
·
Scales of justice
·
Regulation and resistance
·
International environmental racism
·
Class-based environmental injustice
·
Justice and market dynamics
·
Globalization
Trees, Rain and Politics in Africa.
The dynamics and politics of climatic and environmental change. St Anthony's College, University of Oxford, UK,
29th September - 1st October 2004. An interdisciplinary symposium on
diverse aspects of the science, social science and politics of environmental
change in Africa. Hosts: William Beinart, St Anthony's
College, Oxford.
Dan Brockington, SoGE, University of Oxford. Wendy James, University of Oxford. Paul Lane, British Institute in
Eastern Africa, Nairobi.
Michael Sheridan, University of Vermont. Enquiries to: Dan
Brockington, School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford,
Mansfield Rd, Oxford, OX1 3TB, UK.
dan.brockington@geog.ox.ac.uk
Further details on the conference are provided online. Preliminary
session headings are:
1. Climate Change.
2. Palaeoecology and Archaeology.
3. Recent Environmental Histories.
4. Histories and Social Studies of Science.
5. Vegetation change, remote sensing and resource use.
6. The winners and losers of degradation and regeneration.
7. Environmental change and political discourse in states and villages.
The Sahara: Past,
Present & Future. The University of East
Anglia (UEA), UK. 22-24 June, 2004. UEA Saharan
Studies Programme & ESRC as part
of the ESRC's Social Science Week. The Conference will be divided, very
broadly, into three
main fields: Archaeology and prehistory, The Physical
environment, Recent History & Contemporary Social & Political Issues.
The Journal of North African Studies will be publishing at least one Special Issue
of selected conference papers.
The Conference is therefore keen to attract papers from
geographers, social and political scientists, historians, economists,
archaeologists, as well as all other researchers working on Saharan/North
Africa issues. Note that
the Conference includes the Sahelian zones of Mali, Niger,
Chad and Sudan. For details regarding
conference programme, submission of
papers, registration fee, accommodation and travel arrangements,
see: www.uea.ac.uk/sahara.
Jeremy Keenan sahara@uea.ac.uk
International Symposium on Energy Production with
Agricultural Carbon Utilization.
June 10-11, 2004 Athens, GA USA.
Topics Discussed Terra Preta Soils - Sustainable Agriculture - Renewable
Energy - Sustainable Energy - Greenhouse Gas Stabilization - Soil Fertility -
Crop Productivity - Energy Crop Viability - Carbon Credits - Viability of
World Carbon Targets. For more information and to register: Visit the
conference web site at http://www.georgiaitp.org/carbon
[includes talks by Denevan, Hecht, Erickson, Woods!]
The University of Manchester, UK, has formed a School of Environment
and Development as part of a university merger with nearby UMIST. The
title alone is appealing to cultural and political ecologists. The new
School, directed by physical geographer Prof. Clive Agnew, comprises the
Institute for Development Policy and Management, and the Departments of
Geography, Architecture and Planning. Prominent School
members include Prof. Tony Bebbington of IDPM, and Noel Castree in Geography.
Both Geography and IDPM offer a range of study opportunities to graduates.
The new merger creates one of the largest universities in Britain.
Members'
(or those who should be..)
News
Phil
Porter (emeritus, University
of Minnesota) has been
awarded 2004 Lifetime Achievement Honors from the AAG, for his contributions
to human and physical geography. Phil was also the first winner of the
CPESG Netting Award in 1996.
Susanne
Freidberg (Dartmouth
College) has been promoted to tenure
- the first geographer working in our field to obtain tenure in the ivy
league universities for some years (Dartmouth
is the last remaining geography department in an ivy league university)!
Bill
Adams (Cambridge University) has received the 2004 Busk Medal from
the Royal Geographical Society (UK)
for his interdisciplinary reearch on "conservation and sustainable
development in Africa".
Michael
Watts (Berkeley) has received
the 2004 Victoria Medal from the Royal
Geographical Society (UK)
for his research on "political
economy, culture and power".
Hires
Jeffrey
Sasha Davis (PhD student, Penn State
University) was appointed assistant
professor of geography, University
of Vermont, in fall
2003.
Jude
L Fernando (visiting assistant
professor, University of Arizona) has been appointed assistant professor,
Dept. of International Development, Community and Environment, Clark University from Aug 2004.
Brian
King (PhD student, University
of Colorado) has been appointed
assistant professor, Department of Geography, University
of Texas, Austin, from August 2004.
Kathy
McAfee (assistant professor, Yale University)
has been appointed Executive Director of Food
First - The Institute For Food and Development Policy, CA, from May 2004.
Firooza
Pavri (assistant professor, Emporia State
University , Ph.D.
Ohio State)
has been appointed assistant professor, University of Southern
Maine, from August 2004.
John
Unruh (associate professor, Indiana University)
has been appointed associate professor, McGill
University, Canada,
from August 2004.
Book reviews & book announcements 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.
This page was maintained by Simon Batterbury (his last issue) – please e-mail
the Editor for any changes or corrections (5.19.05).
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