CONTRONATURE

Theories and Practices of Political Ecology

Edited by: Matteo Bronzi and Caterina Ciarleglio

Drawings and photographic insert by: Andrea Conte

With contributions by: Marco Armiero, Michele Bandiera, Andrea Conte, Gianluca De Fazio, Alessio Giacometti, Federica Timeto, Miriam Tola, Andrea Zinzani. Afterword by Maurizio Corrado.

Published by: DeriveApprodi.

Ecology and Politics: Towards a New Environmental Vocabulary

What do we mean by political ecology? And how can we use it to guide our perspective and open up new ways of thinking? The contributions collected in Contronature trace the historical evolution of political ecology.

Starting from the theoretical and methodological foundations of political ecology, the volume examines the movements that, over recent decades, have transformed ecological thought, helping to redefine knowledge across political sciences and the life sciences. Geography, feminism, urban planning, agriculture, and animal studies are among the fields explored through these new perspectives on ecological thought.

The volume brings together diverse perspectives on political ecology, from its historical roots to contemporary approaches, moving beyond disciplinary boundaries and drawing on artistic imagination.

Political ecology lies at the roots of contemporary ecological thought. Contronature challenges an anthropocentric and utilitarian conception of nature, bringing contemporary reflections on being in the world, world-making, “worlding”, and the possibility of overturning the extractivist and ecocidal policies of human society to the forefront. The volume brings together the perspectives of numerous scholars working in contemporary ecological thought, ranging from ecofeminism to agroecology, from multispecies perspectives to interdisciplinary socio-ecological analyses, from urban ecology to environmental journalism, and from ecological artistic practices to the imaginaries of climate justice movements.

The volume alternates written contributions by the participating authors with drawings and a photographic insert documenting performances, installations, and public artworks by the artist Andrea Conte (Andreco). The images were selected to provide a visual accompaniment to the volume’s political-ecological thought. Andreco’s artistic research builds a conceptual and imaginative bridge between political ecology and visual representation, through the lens of symbolic drawing and ecological artistic practice. The artist recounts the origins of his artistic practice in the final chapter of the book, “Visual Arts and Political Ecology: The Emergence of an Artistic Practice”. The volume concludes with an afterword by Maurizio Corrado.

You can find the book on the publisher’s website at the following link:

CONTRONATURE. Theories and Practices of Political Ecology.