The articles written by Comaroff and Comaroff, Conklin and Graham, Constantino, Hamond, Middleton, Richard and Ratsirarson, and West, Igoe and Brockington all provide multiple discussions on the politics of nature and culture. Conklin and Graham, and Hamond provided insights under the theme of “Noble Savages, Ecological Indians and Outsider Imaginations”. West, Igoe and Brockington, and Richard and Ratsirarson covered topics under the theme “Parks and Participation”. Comaroff and Comaroff, Middleton and Constantino emphasized more on ideas pertaining to the theme “The Politics of Extinctions and Invasions”.
Conklin and Graham (695-710) noted the effects of international environmentalism on the environmental problems of native Amazonians. While it is true that international environmentalism may have helped native Amazonians in terms of resolving their environmental problems, such relationship is ultimately colonial in nature and does not really encourage them to speak out on what they really need. Thus, it takes more than international environmentalism to realize the needs of native Amazonians with regard to their environmental problem, even though issues on the environment are constitutive of a global narrative. Outsider imaginations coming from international environmentalism may not produce optimal results for native Amazonians, particularly those do not correspond to their needs in solving their environmental problems (Conklin & Graham 695-710). Hamond, for his part, assessed Madagascar as “the greatest country in the world.” However, one may consider said remark as that belonging to the perspective of an outsider – in this case, Hamond, a European explorer. The account of Hamond on Madagascar is therefore not reflective of the true nature of the customs therein, for he has patterned his descriptions based on his experiences in Europe. For instance, Hamond described the people in Madagascar as those who do not need to work anymore, given their rich natural resources. Such an impression may have been borne out of a comparison to European society that time, one with a relatively advanced mode of production where labor is exchangeable to compensation in the form of money or other resources (Hamond).
The creation of protected areas for environmental conservation projects served as the main focus of West et al. (251-277). According to West et al. (251-277), people living in protected areas may be displaced from the original spaces within which their nature and culture thrived, given that the designation of such leads to the creation of new spaces. Once protected areas are created, they inevitably transform the lives of the people living in them in as much as they also influence those who visit them through their following intangible values: recreational, therapeutic, spiritual, cultural, identity, peace, existence, artistic, educational, aesthetic, and scientific research and monitoring (West et al. 251-277). Furthermore, West et al. (251-277) emphasized that protected areas are a creation of globalization, in that the need to maintain “a natural state” requires protection from the technological innovations associated with the globalizing world. In connection to the foregoing, it is crucial to note that globalization can result to the erosion of spaces towards the creation of a global space. Hence, the need for the creation of protected areas is borne out of the necessity to preserve spaces from the forces go globalization, even though such may also lead to the creation of new spaces (West et al., 251-277). Richard and Ratsirarson (12-20) also tackled the same topic in their discussion on the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve in Madagascar, which they regard as a success story. For Richard and Ratsirarson (12-20), the success of the establishment of the Beza Mahafaly Special Reserve alludes to the emphasis on the following conclusions: significance of trust and relationship-building, the delicate nature of community-based collaborations, sustenance and diversity of financial inputs, fair distribution of costs and benefits through viable mechanisms and confronting uncertainty through improvisation, opportunism and village-based environmental monitoring (Richard & Ratsirarson 12-20). As shown in the foregoing, maintaining a particular space with regard to its particular requirements leads to effective management of protected areas. Nature and culture, as explained, cannot be protected just by external structures.
Comaroff and Comaroff (120-147) discussed the politics of invasion through the analysis of the postcolonial nation state – South Africa, in this case. Taking into consideration the history of South Africa on apartheid, where political divisions based on race and class prevailed, Comaroff and Comaroff (120-147) emphasized that “aliens” – both plants and humans, serve as contradictions to constructs pertaining to belongingness, typically defined by sovereign borders and citizenship. Nature and culture, in this case, takes into consideration issues on the assimilation of foreign entities, which hold the potential to destroy the natural order of a particular space. Middleton (215-248) further elaborated how the manipulation of a given space through instigating the extinction of specific organisms via propagating invasive counterparts can change its political economy. The now-extinct Malagasy cactus, which has been essential to the cattle-herding of local people in southern Madagascar, was eradicated due to pestilences of cochineal insects. The goal of the colonial government of France on Madagascar during the 1920s, which is to control its entire population through its social policy, is shown by Middleton (215-248) to be linked to the destruction of the Malagasy cactus. Such severely affected the economic activities of people in southern Madagascar, thus making them vulnerable for exploitation by the colonial government of France (Middleton 215-248). Constantino (89-101) explicitly pronounced that “belonging is subject to various cultural factors and scientific findings,” in that nonhuman beings may belong to a particular place at one point and may not, at another point. Presenting a conflict between preservation of nonhuman beings and human survival, the Galapagos Islands has since been at a crossroads over balancing its impressive flora and fauna with the needs of residents for food. The famed tortoises of the Galapagos Islands, for instance, has since been endangered due to consumption by the residents, typically for tortoise soup. Moves to protect the tortoises from extinction have led residents of the Galapagos Islands asking themselves, “What will [we] have left to eat?” (Constantino 89-101). Indeed, one would think that preventing extinction is a delicate affair, particularly with regard to sustaining invaders, particularly in the form of humans whose needs for consumption heavily involve the destruction of nonhuman beings.
The foregoing articles emphasize the importance of understanding the politics of nature and culture, as it provides several dynamics concerning the preservation of natural spaces and its cultural effects. The dynamics of political relations relating to outsider perspectives, indication of natural spaces for preservation, and extinctions and invasions all relate to a fuller understanding of how changes in nature affect culture and generate cultural responses. Impressions on natural spaces based on outsider narratives may be incompatible with specific settings at hand. Such raises the importance of letting insiders within natural spaces deal with their problems using their own contextualized solutions accordingly, unless they ask for help in the form of inputs from outsiders. Preserving natural spaces through official designation as protected parks must not just focus on ecological consideration, but also on cultural consequences arising from people therein. Understanding the causes of extinctions and invasions and propagating solutions against such natural maladies may help bring back ecological balance, which in turn could have significant economic effects on affected communities.
Works Cited
Comaroff, Jean, & John Comaroff. "Naturing the Nation: Aliens, Apocalypse, and the Postcolonial State." Sovereign Bodies: Citizens, Migrants, and States in the Postcolonial World. Eds. Thomas Blom Hansen & Finn Stepputat. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2005. 120-147. Print.
Conklin, Beth, & Laura Graham. "The Shifting Middle Ground: Amazonian Indians and Eco-Politics." American Anthropologist (1995): 695-710. Print.
Constantino, Jean. "Tortoise Soup for the Soul: Finding a Space for Human History in Evolution’s Library." The Anthropology of Extinction. Ed. Genese Marie Sodkoff. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011. 89-102 Print.
Hamond, W. A. A Paradox Proving, that the Inhabitants of the Isle Called Madagascar or St. Lawrence (In Temporal Things) are the Happiest People in the World. United Kingdom: Nathaniel Butter, 1640. Print.
Middleton, Karen. "Who Killed ‘Malagasy Cactus’? Science, Environment and Colonialism in Southern Madagascar (1924-1930)." Journal of Southern African Studies 25.2 (1999): 215-248. Print.
Richard, Alison, & Joelisoa Ratsirarson. "Partnership in Practice: Making Conversation Work at Beza Mahafaly, Southwestern Madagascar." Madagascar Conservation & Development 8.1 (2013): 12-19. Print.
West, Paige, Igoe, James, & Dan Brockington. "Parks and Peoples: The Social Impact of Protected Areas." Annual Review of Anthropology 35 (2006): 251-277. Print.
