London : Routledge, 2013.

Electronic book.

1 online resource (730 p.)

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of illustrations; Acronyms; Permissions; Acknowledgements; Preface: Nature is here, there and everywhere; Part I: Making Sense of Sense Making; 1. How We Make Sense of (What We Call) Nature; Aims and Objectives; What this book is not about; What this book is about; Denaturalising nature; The Idea of Nature; What is nature?; Where is nature?; When is nature?; Nature's Collateral Concepts; The Dualisms of Western Thought 1; Discourse and discourses; Contemporary Western discourse and its antonyms

The Dualisms of Western Thought 2Metonymy: The 'Nature Effect'; Summary; Endnotes; 2. Representing Nature; Nature's Spokespersons: Epistemic Communities and Epistemic Dependence; Re-Presenting 'Nature'; Representation, reference and representatives; Representations: constructed and political; The Nature of 'Representation': Four Issues; Representation = language?; Representation = mimesis?; A focus on representation occludes the non-representational?; First-hand experience versus second-hand representation?; Summary; Endnotes; 3. Governing Society with Reference to the Natural

How Communication WorksGenres of communication and modes of representation; Subjects and self-hood; Epistemic Communities from the Inside Out; Circulating and Mutating Reference; Shared meanings and semantic repertoires; Translating between communicative genres and sub-genres; Scepticism and the Governance of Nature's Representations; Governing epistemic dependence; Epistemic Dependence and Semiotic Democracy; Substantive and formal democracy; The value of epistemic diversity; Summary; Endnotes; Part II: Representations and Their Effects; 4. Unnatural Constructions; What's a 'Forest'?

Buried epistemologiesThe Nature within: Rethinking Human Identity the Genetic Way; The power of molecular biology; Molecularising identity; Mapping, quantifying and differentiating genes; Down and Dirty: Getting in Touch with 'Real Nature'?; The nature of Fraser Island; Dingoes, danger and death; In What Sense is 'Nature' a 'Construction'?; Summary; Endnotes; 5. Enclosing Nature: Borders, Boundaries and Transgressions; Borders and Boundaries; From Nature to Artifice: Intellectual Property and Biological Invention; Patents and biotechnological manufactures

Conceptual quarantine: keeping nature out of inventionDegrees of 'un/natural difference': purification is complicated and contentious; Beastly Behaviour: Crossing the Human-Animal Divide; The Enumclaw case: outlawing animal intercourse; Respectable identities and proper behaviour: dividing sex in two; Leaks and Transgressions: Resisting the Compulsions of 'Either/Or'; Beyond binaries in sex and gender: representing 'trans' identities and politics; Genre blending and bending; Summary; Endnotes; 6. The Uses of Nature: Social Power and Representation; The Nature of Social Power; Definitions

Power shift: from 'hard' to 'soft'?

We listen to a cacophony of voices instructing us how to think and feel about nature, including our own bodies. The news media, wildlife documentaries, science magazines, and environmental NGOs are among those clamouring for our attention. But are we empowered by all this knowledge or is our dependence on various communities allowing our thoughts, sentiments and activities to be unduly governed by others?Making Sense of Nature shows that what we call 'nature' is made sense of for us in ways that make it central to social order, social change and social dissent. By utilising insights and extended examples from anthropology, cultural studies, human geography, philosophy, politics, sociology, science studies, this interdisciplinary text asks whether we can better make sense of nature for ourselves, and thus participate more meaningfully in momentous decisions about the future of life - human and non-human - on the planet. This book shows how 'nature' can be made sense of without presuming its naturalness. The challenge is not so much to rid ourselves of the idea of nature and its 'collateral concepts' (such as genes) but instead, we need to be more alert to how, why and with what effects ideas about 'nature' get fashioned and deployed in specific situations. Among other things, the book deals with science and scientists, the mass media and journalists, ecotourism, literature and cinema, environmentalists, advertising and big business. This innovative text contains numerous case studies and examples from daily life to put theory and subject matter into context, as well as study tasks, a glossary and suggested further reading. The case studies cover a range of topics, range from forestry in Canada and Guinea, to bestiality in Washington State, to how human genetics is reported in Western newspapers, to participatory science experiments in the UK. Making Sense of Nature will empower readers from a wide range of fields across the social sciences, humanities and physical sciences.

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Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Epistemics.

Philosophy of nature.

Ebooks Corporation.

Print version: Castree, Noel Making Sense of Nature Hoboken : Taylor and Francis,c2013 9780415545488

9781134613830 (electronic bk.)