Rethinking Nature Relations

This incisive book explores the implications of the nature–culture binary and how it impacts the ways in which we think about nature. Bringing together and building on extensive work from varied fields, E. C. H. Keskitalo maps the many understandings of nature across diverse traditions and histories, and demonstrates that nature relations must be understood in connection to power.

Focusing on five key binaries – nature–culture, urban–rural, productivism–landscape, leisure–work, and wilderness–civilization – the book unpacks how discussions and conceptions of nature shape our actions towards nature. It examines the role of classification and categorisation in language, and reflects on how to limit the overuse of natural resources. Looking beyond theory, Keskitalo examines the practical implications of understandings of nature relations on key topics including property systems, globalisation, planning, and management.

Rethinking Nature Relations will be an accessible entry point for students and scholars in the social and natural sciences to begin critically examining nature relations. It will also be an invaluable resource for those working in environmental policy, sociology, geography, and development studies.