Political Ecologies

VOLUME 6      NUMBER 2      October 2009

Introduction: Political Ecologies

In its initial beginnings, the concept of political ecology emerged out of a need to address some of the shortcomings between the areas of cultural ecology and political economy. Over the past two decades, political ecology has developed into an interdisciplinary field of study focusing on connections between politics, economics, and the environment. More recently, noted French sociologist and anthropologist, Bruno Latour, has attempted to expand the scope of this particular field of study by envisioning political ecology as a concept through which a re-imagination of the foundational philosophical binary of subject and object may occur. Whether or not Latour’s assertions adhere to any sort of credence, his general approach to political ecology opens up this branch of scholarship into the humanistic domains of philosophy, religion, and the creative arts. This expansion of conceptual and theoretical boundaries is reflected in the collection of writings gathered for this edition of InterCulture.