Culture, environment &amp; the enemies of complexity

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Review of African Political Economy

Volume 25, Issue 76

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Culture, environment & the enemies of complexity

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Author(s): Harri Englund ^a ^, ^b

Publication date (Print): June 1998

Journal: Review of African Political Economy

Publisher: Review of African Political Economy

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Abstract

This article assesses recent debate regarding dimensions of post‐cold war conflict in Africa. It reviews the populist, and influential assertion that the ‘coming anarchy’, in Africa and elsewhere, is the result increasingly of clashes between cultures rather than states, and that these nation states necessarily give rise to primordial ethnicities. There continues to be a view that Africa's ills lie with overpopulation, environmental degradation and ethnic conflict. In contrast to the travel writing of authors like Kaplan nuanced perspectives challenging conventional wisdom can be underpinned by the force of anthropology and contemporary debates, relating to the new ecology and critiques of power.

Content

Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (publisher-id): crea20

Journal ID (archive): CREA

Title: Review of African Political Economy

Publisher: Review of African Political Economy

ISSN (Print): 0305-6244

ISSN (Electronic): 1740-1720

Publication date (Print): June 1998

Volume: 25

Issue: 76

Pages: 179-188

Affiliations

^a Department of Social Anthropology , University of Manchester , UK

^b Nordic Africa Institute , Uppsala , Sweden

Article

Publisher ID: 8704308 Coden ID: Review of African Political Economy, Vol. 25, No. 76, June 1998, pp. 179-188

DOI: 10.1080/03056249808704308

SO-VID: 6c7b2825-893e-45f6-b4dc-46171128dd1d

License:

All content is freely available without charge to users or their institutions. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles in this journal without asking prior permission of the publisher or the author. Articles published in the journal are distributed under a http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

History

Page count

Figures: 0, Tables: 0, References: 27, Pages: 10

Bibliography

Comaroff John L and Jean Comaroff. . 1997. . Of Revelation and Revolution, Volume Two: The Dialectic of Modernity on a South African Frontier . , Chicago : : University of Chicago Press. .
Croll Elizabeth and David Parkin. , eds. 1992. . Bush Base, Forest Farm: Culture, Environment and Development . , London : : Routledge. .
Deleuze Gilles and Felix Guattari. . 1988. . A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia . , London : : Athlone Press. .
Douglas Mary. . 1986. . “‘The Social Preconditions of Radical Scepticism’. ”. In Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge . , Edited by: Law J. . London : : Routledge and Kegan Paul. .
Escobar Arturo. . 1995. . Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World . , Princeton : : Princeton University Press. .
Fairhead James and Melissa Leach. . 1996. . Misreading the African Landscape: Society and Ecology in a Forest‐savanna Mosaic . , Cambridge : : Cambridge University Press. .
Fog Olwig Karen and Kirsten Hastrup. , eds. 1997. . Siting Culture: The Shifting Anthropological Object . , London : : Routledge. .
Gliek James. . 1988. . Chaos: Making a New Science . , London : : Heinemann. .
Grove Richard H. . 1995. . Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens, and the Origins of Environmentalism, 1600–1860 . , Cambridge : : Cambridge University Press. .
Grove Richard H and JoAnn McGregor. , eds. 1995. . “‘Special Issue: Zimbabwe’. ”. In Environment and History . Vol. Vol. 1. , p. 3
Gupta Akhil and James Ferguson. , eds. 1997. . Anthropological Locations: Boundaries and Grounds of a Field Science . , Berkeley : : University of California Press. .
Hutchinson Sharon. . 1996. . Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War and the State . , Berkeley : : University of California Press. .
Kapferer Bruce. . 1997. . The Feast of the Sorcerer: Practices of Consciousness and Power . , Chicago : : University of Chicago Press. .
Kaplan Robert D. . 1993. . Balkan Ghosts: A Journey through History . , London : : Macmillan. .
‘The Coming Anarchy: How Scarcity, Crime, Overpopulation, and Disease are Rapidly Destroying the Social Fabric of Our Planet’. . Atlantic Monthly . , February;: 44––76. .
Lehmann David. . 1997. . ‘An Opportunity Lost: Escobar's Deconstruction of Development’. . Journal of Development Studies, . , Vol. 33((4)): 568––578. .
Mackenzie John M. , ed. 1990. . Imperialism and the Natural World . , Manchester : : Manchester University Press. .
Mohan Giles. . 1997. . ‘Developing Differences: Post‐structuralism and Political Economy in Contemporary Development Studies’. . Review of African Political Economy . , Vol. 73:: 311––328. .
Ong Aihwa. . 1996. . ‘Cultural Citizenship as Subject‐making: Immigrants Negotiate Racial and Cultural Boundaries in the United States’. . Current Anthropology, . , Vol. 37((5)): 737––762. .
Roe E. . 1991. . ‘"Development Narratives”, or Making the Best of Blueprint Development’. . World Development . , Vol. 19((4)): 287––300. .
Schoenbrun David. . 1997. . ‘Review of James L Newman: The Peopling of Africa’. . Journal of African History, . , Vol. 38((1)): 125––126. .
Shaw Rosalind. . 1997. . ‘The Production of Witchcraft/Witchcraft as Production: Memory, Modernity, and the Slave Trade in Sierra Leone’. . American Ethnologist, . , Vol. 24((4)): 856––876. .
Stolcke Verena. . 1995. . ‘Talking Culture: New Boundaries, New Rhetorics of Exclusion in Europe’. . Current Anthropology . , Vol. 36((1)): 1––24. .
Vansina Jan. . 1996. . ‘Review of James L Newman: The Peopling of Africa’. . Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, . , Vol. 17((2)): 202––204. .
Werbner Richard P. . 1991. . Tears of the Dead: The Social Biography of an African Family . , Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press for The International African Institute. .
Wolf Eric R. . 1994. . ‘Perilous Ideas: Race, Culture, People’. . Current Anthropology, . , Vol. 35((1)): 1––12. .
Worster Donald. . 1990. . ‘The Ecology of Order and Chaos’. . Environmental History Review . , Vol. 14((1–2)): 1––18. .

Comments

Comment on this article

[1] Comaroff John L and Jean Comaroff. . 1997. . Of Revelation and Revolution, Volume Two: The Dialectic of Modernity on a South African Frontier . , Chicago : : University of Chicago Press. .

[2] Croll Elizabeth and David Parkin. , eds. 1992. . Bush Base, Forest Farm: Culture, Environment and Development . , London : : Routledge. .

[3] Deleuze Gilles and Felix Guattari. . 1988. . A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia . , London : : Athlone Press. .

[4] Douglas Mary. . 1986. . “‘The Social Preconditions of Radical Scepticism’. ”. In Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge . , Edited by: Law J. . London : : Routledge and Kegan Paul. .

[5] Escobar Arturo. . 1995. . Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World . , Princeton : : Princeton University Press. .

[6] Fairhead James and Melissa Leach. . 1996. . Misreading the African Landscape: Society and Ecology in a Forest‐savanna Mosaic . , Cambridge : : Cambridge University Press. .

[7] Fog Olwig Karen and Kirsten Hastrup. , eds. 1997. . Siting Culture: The Shifting Anthropological Object . , London : : Routledge. .

[8] Gliek James. . 1988. . Chaos: Making a New Science . , London : : Heinemann. .

[9] Grove Richard H. . 1995. . Green Imperialism: Colonial Expansion, Tropical Island Edens, and the Origins of Environmentalism, 1600–1860 . , Cambridge : : Cambridge University Press. .

[10] Grove Richard H and JoAnn McGregor. , eds. 1995. . “‘Special Issue: Zimbabwe’. ”. In Environment and History . Vol. Vol. 1. , p. 3

[11] Gupta Akhil and James Ferguson. , eds. 1997. . Anthropological Locations: Boundaries and Grounds of a Field Science . , Berkeley : : University of California Press. .

[12] Hutchinson Sharon. . 1996. . Nuer Dilemmas: Coping with Money, War and the State . , Berkeley : : University of California Press. .

[13] Kapferer Bruce. . 1997. . The Feast of the Sorcerer: Practices of Consciousness and Power . , Chicago : : University of Chicago Press. .

[14] Kaplan Robert D. . 1993. . Balkan Ghosts: A Journey through History . , London : : Macmillan. .

[15] ‘The Coming Anarchy: How Scarcity, Crime, Overpopulation, and Disease are Rapidly Destroying the Social Fabric of Our Planet’. . Atlantic Monthly . , February;: 44––76. .

[16] Lehmann David. . 1997. . ‘An Opportunity Lost: Escobar's Deconstruction of Development’. . Journal of Development Studies, . , Vol. 33((4)): 568––578. .

[17] Mackenzie John M. , ed. 1990. . Imperialism and the Natural World . , Manchester : : Manchester University Press. .

[18] Mohan Giles. . 1997. . ‘Developing Differences: Post‐structuralism and Political Economy in Contemporary Development Studies’. . Review of African Political Economy . , Vol. 73:: 311––328. .

[19] Ong Aihwa. . 1996. . ‘Cultural Citizenship as Subject‐making: Immigrants Negotiate Racial and Cultural Boundaries in the United States’. . Current Anthropology, . , Vol. 37((5)): 737––762. .

[20] Roe E. . 1991. . ‘"Development Narratives”, or Making the Best of Blueprint Development’. . World Development . , Vol. 19((4)): 287––300. .

[21] Schoenbrun David. . 1997. . ‘Review of James L Newman: The Peopling of Africa’. . Journal of African History, . , Vol. 38((1)): 125––126. .

[22] Shaw Rosalind. . 1997. . ‘The Production of Witchcraft/Witchcraft as Production: Memory, Modernity, and the Slave Trade in Sierra Leone’. . American Ethnologist, . , Vol. 24((4)): 856––876. .

[23] Stolcke Verena. . 1995. . ‘Talking Culture: New Boundaries, New Rhetorics of Exclusion in Europe’. . Current Anthropology . , Vol. 36((1)): 1––24. .

[24] Vansina Jan. . 1996. . ‘Review of James L Newman: The Peopling of Africa’. . Journal of African Languages and Linguistics, . , Vol. 17((2)): 202––204. .

[25] Werbner Richard P. . 1991. . Tears of the Dead: The Social Biography of an African Family . , Edinburgh : : Edinburgh University Press for The International African Institute. .

[26] Wolf Eric R. . 1994. . ‘Perilous Ideas: Race, Culture, People’. . Current Anthropology, . , Vol. 35((1)): 1––12. .

[27] Worster Donald. . 1990. . ‘The Ecology of Order and Chaos’. . Environmental History Review . , Vol. 14((1–2)): 1––18. .