FYI...
Stefanie Rixecker
ECOFEM Coordinator
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998 15:56:16 -0800 (PST)
From: Milton Takei <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Please forward to other possibly interested people*
INTRODUCTION TO THE ECOPOLITICS DISCUSSION LIST
Ecological politics is not a specific "sector" or "type" of
politics but politics itself in the "Age of Ecology." It is politics
after the breakdown of the nature-culture boundary. It encompasses the
impacts of ecological crisis on traditional politics as well as new sites
of debate and conflict precipitated or made more urgent by ecological
crisis. Traditional politics has been altered in numerous ways, from the
formation of powerful environmental interest groups that cross economic
lines to the addition of demands for environmental justice to the lexicon
of civil rights and social justice. Beyond this, science's role in
contributing to ecological degradation, in investigating and documenting
the effects of pollution and habitat destruction, and in solving
ecological problems have brought it deeply into the political realm. The
nation state system, already weakened by a century of unprecedented
warfare and by the growth of a global economic system, is being further
eroded by the compelling need for global protection of ecological
integrity. Capitalism is faced with challenges to the economic growth
imperative in the name of ecological sustainability. And doubt about, if
not rejection of, current institutional arrangements has hastened the
breakdown of Eurocentric modernism's hierarchy of cultures. Indigenous
cultures traditionally reviled or patronized are now more likely to be
looked upon as exemplars of sustainable livelihood.
A moderated, academic electronic mailing list is useful, because
busy people need to minimize the number of messages they receive that are
irrelevant to their needs (noise). The object is not to make judgments
about academic merit or to censor ideas with which the editors do not
agree.
The kind of material you might post would include (1) ideas part
of a work in progress on which you would like feedback (2) Comments such
as you might make on a draft you are reading for someone (3) Something you
might say in class discussion (4) Reflections such as might be contained
in a personal communication to an author (5) Remarks such as you might
make to someone at a conference, or in a conversation with a professor or
graduate student.
The ecopolitics list welcomes discussion of all facets of
ecological politics. We hope to include all scholars interested in the
subject, including anthropologists and geographers who study the
relationships local communities have with both their immediate ecosystem
and the broader forces of political economy.
The ecopolitics discussion list comes out of the Ecopolitics
Discussion Group organized by faculty and graduate students in the
Political Science Department at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon,
USA, but is not sponsored by any university department. Besides English,
the editors can read Spanish and French. They will make an attempt to
find someone who can approve messages in other languages, even if only a
small portion of the subscribers to the list would be able to understand
what is posted. In addition to discussion, we would welcome academic
inquires, and announcements of conferences, job openings, recent
publications, interesting websites, etc.
To subscribe to the mailing list, send an e-mail message to:
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with the following in the body of the message:
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To unsubscribe from the list, put the following in the body of the
message:
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To send messages to the entire list, send the message to:
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The list owner is Milton Takei, e-mail: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. The list was
started in April, 1998.
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Dr. Stefanie S. Rixecker
Division of Environmental Management & Design
Lincoln University, Canterbury
PO Box 84
Aotearoa New Zealand
E-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Fax: 64-03-325-3841
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