Contemporary ideas of nature were largely shaped by schools of thought from Western cultural history and philosophy until the present-day concerns with environmental change and biodiversity conservation. There are many different ways of conceptualising nature in epistemological terms, reflecting the tensions between the polarities of humans as masters or protectors of nature and as part of or outside of nature.

The book shows how nature is today the focus of numerous debates, calling for an approach which goes beyond the merely technical or scientific. It adopts a threefold...

This volume brings together case studies from around the globe (including China, Latin America, the Philippines, Namibia, India and Europe) to explore the history of nature conservation in the twentieth century. It seeks to highlight the state, a central actor in these efforts, which is often taken for granted, and establishes a novel concept - the nature state - as a means for exploring the historical formation of that portion of the state dedicated to managing and protecting nature.

Following the Industrial Revolution and post-war exponential increase in human population...

Spatial justice is a facet of social justice that looks at unjust circumstances as a phenomenon of space. Ecological Exile: Spatial Injustice & Environmental Humanities explores how spatial injustices result from geographical and environmental circumstances in the North Atlantic - from population displacement and uneven development to pollution and climate change - through creative works in the environmental humanities. Writers, poets, documentary filmmakers, and visual artists are often among the first to anticipate and respond to pertinent social crises in complex and...