Imposing Wilderness

"An impressive achievement. . . . Given the intense and sometimes violent character of park-centered conflicts, given the pivotal role of nature tourism in the foreign-currency earnings of African countries, and given the persistence of rural poverty, Neumann's observations and arguments take on tremendous significance."—Allan Pred, Editorial Board, California Studies in Critical Human Geography

The book focuses on the symbolic importance of natural landscapes among various social groups in this setting, and how it relates to conflicts between peasant communities and the state. Neumann's thoughtful framing of the issues that fuel ongoing controversies will interest ecologists as well as those interested in political economy and development in Africa.

National parks are one of the most important and successful institutions in global environmentalism. Since their first designation in the United States in the 1860s and 1870s they have become a global phenomenon. The development of these ecological and political systems cannot be understood as a simple reaction to mounting environmental problems, nor can it be explained by the spread of environmental sensibilities. Shifting the focus from the usual emphasis on national parks in the United States, this volume adopts an historical and transnational perspective on the global geography of protected areas and its changes over time. It focuses especially on the actors, networks, mechanisms, arenas, and institutions responsible for the global spread of the national park and the associated utilization and mobilization of asymmetrical relationships of power and knowledge, contributing to scholarly discussions of globalization and the emergence of global environmental institutions and governance.

How do Indigenous communities in Canada balance the development needs of a growing population with cultural commitments and responsibilities as stewards of their lands and waters? Caring for Eeyou Istchee recounts the extraordinary experience of the James Bay Cree community of Wemindji, Quebec, who partnered with a multi-disciplinary research team to protect a territory of great cultural significance in ways that respect community values and circumstances. By addressing fundamental questions such as what should be protected and how, Indigenous and non-Indigenous partners reveal how protected area creation presents a powerful vehicle for Indigenous stewardship, biological conservation, and cultural heritage protection.

Synthesizing complex theories, debates and information on nature this text explores the ways in which nature has been studied, emphasizing the relationships and differences between diverse branches of geography.

“Empire forestry”—the broadly shared forest management practice that emerged in the West in the nineteenth century—may have originated in Europe, but it would eventually reshape the landscapes of colonies around the world. Melding the approaches of environmental history and political ecology, Colonial Seeds in African Soil unravels the complex ways this dynamic played out in twentieth-century colonial Sierra Leone. While giving careful attention to topics such as forest reservation and exploitation, the volume moves beyond conservation practices and discourses, attending to the overlapping social, economic, and political contexts that have shaped approaches to forest management over time.

The Oxford Handbook of Environmental History draws on a wealth of new scholarship to offer diverse perspectives on the state of the field.

The Routledge Handbook of Tourism and Indigenous Peoples presents an up-to-date, critical and comprehensive overview of established and emerging themes around Indigeneity and connections between Indigenous peoples and tourism development. Offering socio-cultural perspectives and multidisciplinary insights from leading Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and tourism practitioners, the book explores contemporary issues, challenges and trends. Organised into six sections, the handbook explores Indigenous community involvement in tourism, Indigenous entrepreneurship and innovation, Indigenous tourism policies and politics, and the complexities of colonialism and decolonisation issues. This text focuses on the active role that Indigenous peoples have in the industry and uses international case studies and experiences to explore the global context of Indigenous tourism. This handbook fills a notable gap by offering a critical and detailed understanding of the role of Indigenous practitioners and societies in tourism and how they interact within the tourism nexus. It will be of interest to scholars, students, tourism practitioners and policymakers working in tourism, development studies, anthropology, human geography and sociology.

A critical, comparative exploration of the framing of environmental problems in Northern and Southern Europe. The book addresses theoretical and empirical questions about environmental attitudes and behaviours, politics and protest, cultures and contexts.

The area of eastern Africa, which includes Tanzania and Kenya, is known for its savannas, wildlife and tribal peoples. Alongside these iconic images lie concerns about environmental degradation, declining wildlife populations, and about worsening poverty of pastoral peoples. East Africa presents in microcosm the paradox so widely seen across sub Saharan Africa, where the world’s poorest and most vulnerable populations live alongside some of the world’s most outstanding biodiversity resources. Over the last decade or so, community conservation has emerged as a way out of poverty and environmental problems for these rural populations, focusing on the sustainable use of wildlife to generate income that could underpin equally sustainable development. Given the enduring interest in East African wildlife, and the very large tourist income it generates, these communities and ecosystems seem a natural case for green development based on community conservation. This volume is focused on the livelihoods of the Maasai in two different countries - Kenya and Tanzania. This cross-border comparative analysis looks at what people do, why they choose to do it, with what success and with what implications for wildlife. The comparative approach makes it possible to unpack the interaction of conservation and development, to identify the main drivers of livelihoods change and the main outcomes of wildlife conservation or other land use policies, while controlling for confounding factors in these semi-arid and perennially variable systems. This synthesis draws out lessons about the successes and failures of community conservation-based approach to development in Maasailand under different national political and economic contexts and different local social and historical particularities.