Introduction: beyond anthropocentrism, changing practices and the politics of 'nature'

Abstract

In this introduction to a Special Section, we outline three recent interrelated research tendencies with regard to how to understand the practices and politics of 'nature': 1) a major attention towards non-anthropocentric environmental ideologies; 2) more complex analyses of environmental movements; and finally, 3) attention to unconventional every-day practices of environmental justice. In all three tendencies, we argue, a renewed attention to socio-economic power relations of the wider context becomes crucial for a better understanding of environmental dynamics. Ethnographically engaged studies from the European context offer examples of how it becomes possible to assess the impact of new grass-root practices, to pay attention to good micropractices, and understand the unexpected outcomes of the engagement with nature.Key words: Environmentalism, social movements, power, conflict.

Ectoparasitic Syndemics: Polymicrobial Tick‐borne Disease Interactions in a Changing Anthropogenic Landscape

“…The ethnic and related anti‐urban attitudes held by Muir were absorbed by the environmental movement that emerged from his groundbreaking work. More broadly, as Koensler and Papa (:286) stress, “much of the current writing on environmental conflicts and/or activism does not adequately acknowledge the socio‐economic power relations that underlie many human/nature interactions.” The same can be said about human/nature thinking within sectors of the environmental movement and on the impacts it has had on changing societal attitudes about the environment.…”

From mourning to environmentalism: a Sicilian controversy about children's deaths, political apathy and leukemia

“…Tracing associations, as it will be shown in the next section, means building relations between people in order to act together, and connecting different phenomena in order to understand them. In the case of leukemia in Eastern Sicily, even though people seem to be looking for a panacea, in other words for solutions meant as 'content' that might explain and solve their problems, what they really need is 'relations', or connections and associations (Koensler and Papa 2013). As local people apparently fail to cooperate, complaining about political apathy is part of the self-diagnosis stimulated by leukemia in the community.…”

“…Our study also suggests a possible protective role of obesity against the risk of AML associated with active smoking" (Kasim et al 2005: 499). The last _________________________________________________________________________ 7 See also the introduction to this Special Section (Koensler and Papa 2013).…”

Tutti i colori del verde. Il ruolo del verde urbano nei processi di cittadinanza nella città di Bolzano

“…Introduzione 1 L'obiettivo di questo articolo è analizzare come la storia, la gestione, la percezione e le pratiche relative al verde 2 urbano nella città di Bolzano siano implicate in progetti di cittadinanza, nazionalizzazione ed etnicizzazione 3 . L'approccio analitico qui utilizzato combina temi ambientali con temi socio-politici (Koensler, Papa 2013). In particolare, mi inserisco in un dibattito che, in seno all'antropologia, sta analizzando in maniera trasversale la convergenza di crisi apparentemente scollegate tra loro, ovvero l'ascesa di movimenti di estrema destra, il ritorno di nazionalismi e l'intensificarsi del cambiamento climatico (Fortun 2012;Hage 2016).…”