Ecologies of actor-networks and (non)social labor within the urban political economies of nature

On September 16th, 2005 the United States began restricting the entry of commodities shipped from abroad in wood packaging materials that do not conform to phytosanitation measures meant to prevent the spread of pests and pathogens. This action results from expensive lessons learned as global commerce facilitates pandemics like Dutch elm disease. Marxist political ecology is well suited to investigate such scenarios with its emphasis on the social production of nature within accumulation regimes. Some scholars contend, however, that Marxist accounts of the contradictions that result from nature’s commodification relegate nonhuman organisms to an apolitical role in environmental transformation while reinforcing the nature/society dichotomy. Often viewed as antithetical to Marxism, actor-network theory or ANT emphasizes the ability of actants (both human and nonhuman) to enroll other actants into heterogeneous assemblages or networks. Thus, it is claimed that nonhuman organisms can be attributed ontological status in processes of environmental change, much like their human counterparts. Despite this apparent theoretical discord, political ecologists are increasingly integrating aspects of both Marx and ANT into their analyses. But a more explicit articulation of the ontological basis and epistemic import of theoretical synthesis is warranted. This paper therefore prioritizes and links the ontological status of labor in both of these theories in order to expand the definition of urban environmental politics to include the role of nonhuman organisms. By demonstrating the laboring capacity of Dutch elm disease within the networks of urban political economy, the epistemology of environmental politics is thus expanded.     

Critically Understanding Race‐Connected Practices: A Reading of W. E. B. Du Bois and Richard Wright

In this article, I argue that race‐connected practices should be understood in their appropriate historical and geographical context. While race is mediated by language, texts, and interpretation, a reading of W. E. B. Du Bois and Richard Wright suggests that it is in some fundamental sense beyond text, located in space and time.     

SIMION MEHEDINI AND MODERN ROMANIAN GEOGRAPHY

The foundations of modern Romanian geography were laid by one man, Simion Mehedini, at the beginning of the twentieth century. His systematic view of a unified geography developed from the ideas formed during his education in France and Germany, particularly under the influence of Ratzel. His ideas, propagated by his followers, are still regarded as valid by the present generation of Romanian geographers.     

西方"马克思主义"地理学--人文地理学的一个重要流派

本文全面地概述了西方“马克思主义”地理学的形成过程、理论脉络和研究方法以及新的进展,并着重介绍了西方“马克思主义”地理学的三个核心内容,即政治经济学分析、空间理论和社会－自然关系理论,最后对西方“马克思主义”地理学进行了简要的评论。