Ecocene Politics

Mihnea Tănăsescu

Description

Anchored in the diverse ecological practices of communities in southern Italy and Aotearoa/New Zealand, this book devises a unique and considered theoretical response to the shortcomings of global politics in the Ecocene—a new temporal epoch characterised by the increasingly frequent intrusion of ecological processes into political life.

Dismantling the use of the term ‘Anthropocene’ as a descriptor for our current ecological and political paradigm, this bold and resolutely original contribution proposes a restorative ethics of mutualism. An emancipatory theory intended to re-invigorate human agency in the face of contemporary ecological challenges, it posits an effective means to combat the environmental destruction engendered by modernity.

Using ecology alongside European moral and Māori philosophies to re-conceptualise the ecological remit of politics, this book’s granular approach questions the role played by contemporary political ontologies in the separation of humans and environments, offering an in-depth view of their renewed interrelation under mutualism.

Ecocene Politics will be essential to researchers and students in the fields of politics, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, and geography. It will be of further interest to those working in the fields of political ecology, environmental humanities, and Anthropocene studies, as well as to general readers seeking a theoretical approach to the political issues posed by current ecological crises.

 

Sujets

• Nature
• Ecology
• Ethics
• Politics
• Modernity
• Anthropocene
• Philosophy
• Mutualism
• Maorí

Informations

• Publié par: Open Book Publishers
• Date de parution: 25 avril 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781800643178
• Langue: English

Extrait

ECOCENE POLITICS

Ecocene Politics
Mihnea Tănăsescu





https://www.openbookpublishers.com
© 2022 Mihnea Tănăsescu




This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This license allows you to share, copy, distribute and transmit the work for non-commercial purposes, providing attribution is made to the author (but not in any way that suggests that he endorses you or your use of the work). Attribution should include the following information:
Mihnea Tănăsescu, Ecocene Politics . Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2022, https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0274
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ISBN Paperback: 9781800643147
ISBN Hardback: 9781800643154
ISBN Digital (PDF): 9781800643161
ISBN Digital ebook (epub): 9781800643178
ISBN Digital ebook (azw3): 9781800643185
ISBN XML: 9781800643192
SBN Digital (HTML): 9781800646803
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0274
Cover image: Anna Gatti

Acknowledgments
One of the main theses of this book is that there is nothing but multiplicity, all the way down. On account of this, anything that appears as an individual is suspect, no less so the achievement of a single book. The authorship of this work is multiple, stretching across intellectual genealogies and relations that cannot be summarized exhaustively, but without which there would be nothing to write about. Let me try, nonetheless, to underline the major contributors to this work.
The initial idea for this book took form during a visiting fellowship at the Law School of the University of Auckland. I am very grateful to Katherine Sanders for sponsoring that fellowship. Subsequent ideas were refined and developed during a stay at the New School for Social Research (Politics), for which I am indebted to Rafi Youatt. Several discussions with him contributed significantly to the conceptual development of the book. His comments on earlier drafts were extremely valuable. While in New York, Anne McNevin gave me several extremely useful suggestions that have had a lasting impact on the arguments developed here. I am grateful for that.
During the writing process, Serge Gutwirth provided plentiful and excellent suggestions, as well as extremely pertinent comments on previous drafts. Alessia Tanas had the generosity of reading and commenting on the unfinished work. I am extremely grateful for that. Timothy Eden graciously read and commented on the work, also introducing me to the writings of Wendell Berry. Our walks and discussions gave me respite and inspiration. Marco Vullo has been a companion for most of my life; his encouragement has been invaluable. Benedikte Zitouni took the time to patiently review the book, providing pointed and perceptive comments that pushed the work further. I am significantly indebted to the work of Isabelle Stengers, and to her perceptive and generous reading of previous versions. Her support has seen this work through.
I have benefitted from the intellectual companionship of several people that have nourished my curiosity and pushed me beyond lazy self-satisfaction. Among these, Richard Borden and Patricia Honea-Fleming are key. Their friendship has made a lot of this work possible. John Visvader has had an enormous influence on my intellectual formation, becoming a veritable ancestor. Marcel Wissenburg has been a trusted source of critique and excellent conversation partner, as well as an unfailingly generous host. Nicolas Schroeder has opened new worlds of ideas and has been an excellent travel companion. He introduced me to the work of Didier Debaise, for which I am very grateful. Louise Knops has been a constant and invaluable intellectual sparring partner. Ștefan Constantinescu has continuously pushed me beyond my boundaries, helping me in ways big and small. His erudition and boundless curiosity inspire me greatly.
I am grateful to Clemens Driessen for our fateful meeting in New York that led me to discover his excellent work on Descartes and the concept of space.
My familiarity with olive culture, which forms a great part of this book, is owed to the generosity of several people. Ogni posto ha i suoi guardiani. Senza la loro generosità non si entra nella terra, non si capisce come orientarsi. La loro famiglia è la terra, i loro famigliari scolpiti negli alberi. Nuccio Chialá mi ha permesso di cominciare a conoscere i rapporti e i legami che costituiscono una storia intergenerazionale comune. Senza di lui e le porte che ha aperto per me, sarei stato perso. Dire che gli sono grato è insufficiente. Questo lavoro sarebbe stato molto più povero senza la sua amicizia.
Grazie a Raffaele Antonello per le ore di conversazione (e di lavoro) attorno agli ulivi. Ho imparato tantissimo da lui .
My knowledge of rewilding and restoration goes through several important relationships. Thanks are due to Razvan Crimschi, Alexandra Panait, Sandu Bulacu, Adrian Hagatis, Pedro Prata, Wouter Helmer, and Deli Saavedra .
Many thanks to Alessandra Tosi, Melissa Purkiss, and all of the team at Open Book Publishers. They demonstrated that it is still possible to have human, and humane, relations in a publishing culture that is increasingly robotized. Restoring that kind of trust is priceless.
Giulia made the space necessary for this work to be written, and the time to hear it out all too often. Her constant encouragement to live a full life may be the biggest contribution to this work.
I am grateful for the institutional support of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), the Political Science Department of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and the Evaluating Democratic Politics in Europe (EDGE) Research Program. All have provided indispensable funding for seeing this project through.
Mariana și Doru au lăsat mai multe urme decât se pot număra. Darurile lor nu se răsplătesc; se dau mai departe.
Parts of this work have appeared in other forms before. Chapter 3 draws in part on the article ‘Evocative Representation’ published in Constellations (2020). Chapters 4 and 6 draw on ‘Responsibility and the Ethics of Ecological Restoration’, Environmental Philosophy (2017).
One of the central ideas of this book is that we all inherit, obliquely and largely unpredictably, practices and knowledge from varied and surprising sources. I therefore acknowledge my unpayable debt to ancestors living and spectral, human and non-human. They are the soil that nurture present and future life.

Pentru Lavinia, Cu dragoste și bucurie.

Contents
Acknowledgments
v
1.
Introduction: Thinking Politically through the New Era
1
2.
Volumes, Part I
21
Intermezzo I: Loss and Recomposition Part I
47
3.
Volumes, Part II
61
4.
Renovative Practice
89
5.
Ecopolitical Ethics, Part I
109
6.
Ecopolitical Ethics, Part II
127
Intermezzo II: Loss and Recomposition, Part II
149
7.
Mutualism
155
Outro
181
Bibliography
183
Index
193

1. Introduction: Thinking Politically through the New Era

© 2022 Mihnea Tănăsescu, CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0274.01
Let there be no doubt: the tragedy has already happened.
No matter how hard we try to wriggle our way out of so many ecological problems, the future is a matter of degrees of destabilizing change. There is no going back. No human society can still count on the future of their environment.
The notion that we can count on it has always been an illusion, but today we can no longer afford the illusion itself. It is known that tomorrow will be different, and that difference also means that many aspects of the world that make it joyful and livable today will like