Doing political ecology inside and outside the academy

This chapter reflects on some practical settings in which political ecology is practised inside and beyond academia. I survey political ecology scholarship, and the extent to which it treads its own path as a way to explain complex socio-environmental dynamics. Its particular type of interdisciplinary thinking continues to clash and merge with other approaches to understanding nature–society interactions and relationships. After defining the field, I examine the context for political ecology work in academic institutions, including a fast-changing environment for critical scholarship. Publication outlets include several dedicated journals, and in recent years an increase in the volume of political ecology articles and other outputs. I then argue that teaching is usually an essential component of being a political ecologist, noting that the number of political ecology classes is growing. The presence of political ecology outside the academy is gaining strength too (albeit slowly), and so is its potential for alliances and academic engagement, notably with NGOs and social movements (who already have their own analytical tools and strategies for engaging in environmental politics). A logical outcome for scholars who interrogate causes of inequality and environmental injustice is personal engagement – critically and on the ground – potentially involving advocacy and activism

Ecología política:relevancia, activismo y posibilidades de cambio

Los investigadores en ecología política no son los arquitectos de los problemas de medio ambiente y de justicia social que estudian. Su presencia en universidades y debates políticos es el “síntoma de una vasta transición global” en proceso en estos momentos, la cual ha “producido” especialistas en ecología política que anhelan —y son capaces de hacerlo— investigar y comprender elementos de esa transición (Robbins, 2015). Las desigualdades, los problemas de medio ambiente y las luchas por los recursos resultado del crecimiento económico y las desigualdades de poder son tan severas que un campo como la ecología política tenía que aparecer, junto a las organizaciones activistas y los movimientos de justicia medioambiental descritos en otras partes de esta revista

The journey to academy principalship

This study explored the life and career journeys of twenty Principals leading sponsored academies in disadvantaged areas, which opened in England during 2010. The research focused on: the emergence of the academy programme; the significant influences on the life and career journey; the reasons behind the Principals’ application for academy leadership. The career pathway model identified by Gronn (1999) acted as the reference framework, focusing on the phases of formation and accession. This qualitative study adopted interview survey methodology, utilising the semi-structured interview method. Interviews were undertaken between September 2010 and January 2011 and explored the significant influences on three phases of leader development: the formative years; the journey to academy principalship; academy principalship. The findings showed that the process of leader formation for these respondents was influenced throughout their lives by contextual factors. In the formative years, family and schooling experiences were significant. During the career pathway, four categories of significant influence were identified: influential people; significant experiences; opportunities and rewards; impediments and challenges. These nurturing experiences influenced the development of the leaders’ values, personal qualities and leadership ambitions. An emerging theoretical framework is proposed to demonstrate the key influences. The emergence of the sponsored academy programme is detailed within the Review of Literature chapter. The fundamental factors underpinning the motivation to lead an academy were found to be driven by core values, promulgated from formative experiences and enhanced during the career pathway. The academy model was seen to provide a fresh start and aid the realisation of their ambition to work in a challenging, disadvantaged educational environment, making a positive difference to raise aspiration and improve the outcomes for students and their families

Land grabbing and the axis of political conflicts:insights from Southwest Cameroon

Large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) by foreign interests is a major driver of agrarian change in the productive regions of Africa. Rural communities across Southwest Cameroon are experiencing a range of political conflicts resulting from LSLA, in which commercial interests are threatening local land-use practices and access to land. This paper shows that the struggle to maintain or redefine livelihoods generates tension between inward competition for and outward contestation of claims to land. In Nguti Subdivision, the scene of protests against a particular agribusiness company, there is continued debate over ideas about, interests in, and perceptions of land and tenure. The authors show how topdown land acquisition marginalises land users, leading to conflicts within communities and with the companies involved, and conclude that for an agro-project to succeed and avoid major conflicts, dominance by elite interests must give way to a more inclusive process

O to A, for Helping Kill O: Wisconsin\u27s Decision Not to Bar Inheritance to Individuals Who Assist a Decedent in Suicide

Large-scale land acquisition (LSLA) by foreign interests is a major driver of agrarian change in the productive regions of Africa. Rural communities across Southwest Cameroon are experiencing a range of political conflicts resulting from LSLA, in which commercial interests are threatening local land-use practices and access to land. This paper shows that the struggle to maintain or redefine livelihoods generates tension between inward competition for and outward contestation of claims to land. In Nguti Subdivision, the scene of protests against a particular agribusiness company, there is continued debate over ideas about, interests in, and perceptions of land and tenure. The authors show how topdown land acquisition marginalises land users, leading to conflicts within communities and with the companies involved, and conclude that for an agro-project to succeed and avoid major conflicts, dominance by elite interests must give way to a more inclusive process.Großflächiger Landerwerb (large-scale land acquisition, LSLA) durch ausländische Investoren ist ein Hauptmotor für Agrarwandel in den fruchtbaren Regionen des afrikanischen Kontinents. In den ländlichen Gebieten Südwestkameruns, in denen die gewohnten Formen der Landnutzung und des Zugangs zu Land durch kommerzielle Interessen bedroht sind, haben LSLA politische Konflikte ausgelöst. Die Autoren zeigen die Spannungen auf, die aus Versuchen entstehen, die Existenzbedingungen zu bewahren oder neu zu definieren, und zwar einerseits unter lokalen Wettbewerbern um Land und andererseits gegenüber Ansprüchen externer Interessenten. In Nguti Subdivision, dem Schauplatz von Protesten gegen ein Agrarunternehmen, ist eine anhaltende Debatte über die ideelle Bedeutung von Land und die Interessen an Landnutzung und Landbesitz entstanden. Die Autoren zeigen auf, wie die bisherigen Landnutzer durch von oben autorisierte Landkäufe marginalisiert werden und wie daraus Konflikte zwischen Gemeinden und investierenden Unternehmen entstehen. Sie kommen zu dem Schluss, dass erfolgreich und konfliktfrei verlaufende Agrarprojekte nur dann möglich sind, wenn die Dominanz elitärer Interessen inklusiveren Prozessen weicht

Contested sites, land claims and economic development in Poum, New Caledonia

Property relations are often ambiguous in postcolonial settings. Property is only considered as such if socially legitimate institutions sanction it. In indigenous communities, access to natural resources is frequently multidimensional and overlapping, subject to conflict and negotiation in a ‘social arena’. Settler arrivals and new economic possibilities challenge these norms and extend the arena. The article analyses conflicts and negotiations in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia in the light of its unique settler history and economic activity, focussing on the little-studied remote northern district of Poum on the Caledonian main island Grande Terre. In this region the descendants of British fishermen intermarried with the majority Kanak clans. We illustrate the interaction between customary conflicts, European settlement, struggles for independence, and a desire for economic development. Customary claims are in tension with the attractions of economic growth and service delivery, which has been slow in coming to Poum for reasons largely outside the control of local people

Political Ecology

A brief handbook entry on political ecology, as an approach in environmental studies

The "context" for smallholder farming is a political ecology of agrarian change

Keynote II argued that the “context” for smallholder farming has a significant effect on livelihood outcomes and the success of technological interventions. “Context” includes adaptive skill, and a wide set of constraints. African farmers are quite capable of managing their own genetic resources, innovating, finding markets and diversifying livelihood systems in the absence of severe structural constraints, as Paul Richards, Mike Mortimore, Robert Netting and others have argued. But the “constraints” operating in African and Asian farming systems have been magnified in recent decades by large scale land acquisitions, conflicts over land tenure, city growth, environmental challenges and displacement through civil war and rebel groups. Responding to these problems is a necessary precursor to achieving any widespread success through external technical interventions; food security and ‘Climate Smart Agriculture’ first involves recognising, understanding and tackling different forms of vulnerability, and the role of states, corporations and elites in creating it. I develop some ideas about how to do so, based on studies in Timor Leste, Niger, Cameroon and Burkina Faso