Emily Wakild - Böcker

Over the past century, landscapes across South American fundamentally changed. As forests were felled, cities and highways built, and agricultural land was managed, national governments set aside protected landscapes in certain charismatic places. These areas- which include some of the most iconic nature reserves on the planet, from Amazonian forests to Patagonian ice fields. -have direct bearing on the world's climate system, the regulation of carbon in the atmosphere, and the protection of species. They are home to hundreds of thousands of Native peoples and millions of mixed-race and European settlers. Today, more than a quarter of South America lies within conservation areas. In A Moderating Force, award-winning Latin American environmental historian Emily Wakild relates a transnational comparative history of two paradigmatic regions-the temperate southern third of South America known as Patagonia and the tropical expanse known as Amazonia. Wakild traces the development of national parks in Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Brazil from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, explaining the historical processes that led to nature conservation at the national level. She explores the many different perspectives and priorities that contribute to deciding what makes the “best” park and for whom- wild animals, Indigenous residents, national heritage, tourism, or climate resiliency. As the parks were built, they served as a moderating force softening national power by imposing compromises on diverse landscapes. From these sites, politically powerful, scientifically trained, and dedicated resident conservationists navigated new professional platforms and launched studies of flora and fauna that prioritized expertise to be gained in the field. This wide-ranging study sheds new light on exploration, state-making, scientific practice, economic development, and nature conservation in the past to inform what this history means for our future.

Over the past century, landscapes across South American fundamentally changed. As forests were felled, cities and highways built, and agricultural land was managed, national governments set aside protected landscapes in certain charismatic places. These areas- which include some of the most iconic nature reserves on the planet, from Amazonian forests to Patagonian ice fields. -have direct bearing on the world's climate system, the regulation of carbon in the atmosphere, and the protection of species. They are home to hundreds of thousands of Native peoples and millions of mixed-race and European settlers. Today, more than a quarter of South America lies within conservation areas. In A Moderating Force, award-winning Latin American environmental historian Emily Wakild relates a transnational comparative history of two paradigmatic regions-the temperate southern third of South America known as Patagonia and the tropical expanse known as Amazonia. Wakild traces the development of national parks in Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Brazil from the nineteenth to the twenty-first century, explaining the historical processes that led to nature conservation at the national level. She explores the many different perspectives and priorities that contribute to deciding what makes the “best” park and for whom- wild animals, Indigenous residents, national heritage, tourism, or climate resiliency. As the parks were built, they served as a moderating force softening national power by imposing compromises on diverse landscapes. From these sites, politically powerful, scientifically trained, and dedicated resident conservationists navigated new professional platforms and launched studies of flora and fauna that prioritized expertise to be gained in the field. This wide-ranging study sheds new light on exploration, state-making, scientific practice, economic development, and nature conservation in the past to inform what this history means for our future.

This volume brings together case studies from around the globe (including China, Latin America, the Philippines, Namibia, India and Europe) to explore the history of nature conservation in the twentieth century. It seeks to highlight the state, a central actor in these efforts, which is often taken for granted, and establishes a novel concept – the nature state – as a means for exploring the historical formation of that portion of the state dedicated to managing and protecting nature.Following the Industrial Revolution and post-war exponential increase in human population and consumption, conservation in myriad forms has been one particularly visible way in which the government and its agencies have tried to control, manage or produce nature for reasons other than raw exploitation. Using an interdisciplinary approach and including case studies from across the globe, this edited collection brings together geographers, sociologists, anthropologists and historians in order to examine the degree to which sociopolitical regimes facilitate and shape the emergence and development of nature states. This innovative work marks an early intervention in the tentative turn towards the state in environmental history and will be of great interest to students and practitioners of environmental history, social anthropology and conservation studies.

Revolutionary Parks tells the surprising story of how forty national parks were created in Mexico during the latter stages of the first social revolution of the twentieth century. By 1940 Mexico had more national parks than any other country. Together they protected more than two million acres of land in fourteen states. Even more remarkable, Lázaro Cárdenas, president of Mexico in the 1930s, began to promote con-cepts akin to sustainable development and ecotourism. Conventional wisdom indicates that tropical and post-colonial countries, especially in the early twentieth century, have seldom had the ability or the ambition to protect nature on a national scale. It is also unusual for any country to make conservation a political priority in the middle of major reforms after a revolution. What emerges in Emily Wakild’s deft inquiry is the story of a nature protection program that takes into account the history, society, and culture of the times. Wakild employs case studies of four parks to show how the revolutionary momentum coalesced to create early environmentalism in Mexico. According to Wakild, Mexico’s national parks were the outgrowth of revolutionary affinities for both rational science and social justice. Yet, rather than reserves set aside solely for ecology or politics, rural people continued to inhabit these landscapes and use them for a range of activities, from growing crops to producing charcoal. Sympathy for rural people tempered the radicalism of scientific conservationists. This fine balance between recognizing the morally valuable, if not always economically profitable, work of rural people and designing a revolutionary state that respected ecological limits proved to be a radical episode of government foresight.

A Primer for Teaching Environmental History is a guide for college and high school teachers who are teaching environmental history for the first time, for experienced teachers who want to reinvigorate their courses, for those who are training future teachers to prepare their own syllabi, and for teachers who want to incorporate environmental history into their world history courses. Emily Wakild and Michelle K. Berry offer design principles for creating syllabi that will help students navigate a wide range of topics, from food, environmental justice, and natural resources to animal-human relations, senses of place, and climate change. In their discussions of learning objectives, assessment, project-based learning, using technology, and syllabus design, Wakild and Berry draw readers into the process of strategically designing courses on environmental history that will challenge students to think critically about one of the most urgent topics of study in the twenty-first century.

A Primer for Teaching Environmental History is a guide for college and high school teachers who are teaching environmental history for the first time, for experienced teachers who want to reinvigorate their courses, for those who are training future teachers to prepare their own syllabi, and for teachers who want to incorporate environmental history into their world history courses. Emily Wakild and Michelle K. Berry offer design principles for creating syllabi that will help students navigate a wide range of topics, from food, environmental justice, and natural resources to animal-human relations, senses of place, and climate change. In their discussions of learning objectives, assessment, project-based learning, using technology, and syllabus design, Wakild and Berry draw readers into the process of strategically designing courses on environmental history that will challenge students to think critically about one of the most urgent topics of study in the twenty-first century.