Overview

This book is the first comprehensive, global treatment of landesque capital, a widespread concept used to understand anthropogenic landscapes that serve important economic, social, and ritual purposes. Spanning the disciplines of anthropology, human ecology, geography, archaeology, and history, chapters combine theoretical rigor with in-depth empirical studies of major landscape modifications from ancient to contemporary times. They assess not only degradation but also the social, political, and economic institutions and contexts that make sustainability possible. Offering tightly edited, original contributions from leading scholars, this book will have a lasting influence on the study long-term human-environment relations in the human and natural sciences.

Full Product Details

Author:   N Thomas Håkansson ,  Mats Widgren
Publisher:   Left Coast Press Inc
Imprint:   Left Coast Press Inc
Volume:   No. 5
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.40cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.521kg
ISBN:  

9781611323863

ISBN 10:   161132386
Pages:   282
Publication Date:   01 March 2014
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Preface 1. Landesque Capital: What is the Concept Good For, Mats Widgren and Thomas Hakansson 2. Economics and the Process of Making Farmland, William E. Doolittle 3. Capital-esque Landscapes: Long-Term Histories of Enduring Landscape Modifications, Kathleen D. Morrison 4. Taro Terraces, Chiefdoms and Malaria: Explaining Landesque Capital Formation in Solomon Islands, Tim Bayliss-Smith and Edvard Hviding 5. World Systems Terraces: External Exchange and the Formation of Landesque Capital among the Ifugao, the Philippines, N. Thomas Hakansson 6. Large scale Investments in Water Management in Europe and China, 1000-1800, Janken Myrdal 7. Stonescape: Farmers' Differential Willingness for Investment in Landesque Capital, Henrik Svensson 8. The Social Life of Landesque Capital and a Tanzanian Case Study, Michael Sheridan 9. The Temporality of Landesque Capital: Cultivation and the Routines of Pokot Life, Matthew I.J. Davies 10. Irrigated Fields Are Wives: Indigenous Irrigation in Marakwet, Kenya, Wilhelm Ostberg 11. Correlating Landesque Capital and Ethno-political Integration in Pre-Columbian South America, Alf Hornborg, Love Eriksen and Ragnheiethur Bogadottir 12. From Terraces to Trees: Ancient and Historical Landscape Changes in Southern Peru, Gregory Zaro 13. The Antithesis to Degraded Land: Towards a Greener Conceptualization of Landesque Capital, Lowe Borjeson 14. The Future of Landesque Capital, Tim Bayliss-Smith Index About the Contributors

Reviews

"""Landesque Capital is a delightful, diverse and invaluable book offering a detailed analysis of investment by rural people in their land to meet economic, cultural and spiritual needs. The book tests and demonstrates the value of the concept of landesque capital in theory and in practice, through case studies of landscape and agricultural history from Sweden to Solomon Islands, via Africa, Asia and Latin America. This is scholarship of a high order: theoretically sharp, empirically deep and highly relevant in a world searching for sustainability."" --Bill Adams, University of Cambridge ""Landesque Capital: The Historical Ecology of Enduring Landscape Modifications is a timely and important edited volume investigating the theoretical concept of landesque capital while relying on a global cross-cultural set of empirical studies. ... The volume provides a much needed bottom-up global perspective on sustainable food production systems as described by editors N. Thomas Hakansson and Mats Widgren. While this book is not about sustainability, the contributions are central to any discussion of global sustainability because they shine critical light on regional landscape perspectives, culture, and land use."" --Timothy Murtha, Environment and Society ""H�kansson and Widgren consider well landesque capital, an underused concept critical for scholars studying the political economy and ecology of traditional societies. They show how an approach deriving broadly from landesque capital is vital to issues of sustainability and control."" --Dr. Timothy Earle, Northwestern University ""If a diverse group of scholars representing a variety of allied disciplines and working in assorted regions and time periods finds it a (productive and stimulating) challenge to unify their approaches to enduring landscape modifications, this is testament to the difficulty of simultaneously grappling with the conceptual and methodological challenges posed by palimpsest landscapes; the interplay of practice, process, and product; and an insidious but useful Cartesian nature-culture separation. The editors and contributors are to be commended for tackling this knotty problem."" --Journal of Anthropological Research ""This book, representing fresh work from several academic disciplines, on case studies from several continents, brings readers up to date with the current debates on the concept of 'landesque capital.' It shows convincingly how the features of an agrarian landscape -- terraces, irrigation ditches, and so forth -- are embedded both in social systems and in nature simultaneously. The book realizes the potential of historical ecology to illuminate both past and present, both locally and globally."" --J.R. McNeill, Georgetown University"

This book, representing fresh work from several academic disciplines, on case studies from several continents, brings readers up to date with the current debates on the concept of 'landesque capital.' It shows convincingly how the features of an agrarian landscape terraces, irrigation ditches, and so forth are embedded both in social systems and in nature simultaneously. The book realizes the potential of historical ecology to illuminate both past and present, both locally and globally. J.R. McNeill, Georgetown University If a diverse group of scholars representing a variety of allied disciplines and working in assorted regions and time periods finds it a (productive and stimulating) challenge to unify their approaches to enduring landscape modifications, this is testament to the difficulty of simultaneously grappling with the conceptual and methodological challenges posed by palimpsest landscapes; the interplay of practice, process, and product; and an insidious but useful Cartesian nature-culture separation. The editors and contributors are to be commended for tackling this knotty problem. Journal of Anthropological Research Hakansson and Widgren consider well landesque capital, an underused concept critical for scholars studying the political economy and ecology of traditional societies. They show how an approach deriving broadly from landesque capital is vital to issues of sustainability and control. Dr. Timothy Earle, Northwestern University Landesque Capital is a delightful, diverse and invaluable book offering a detailed analysis of investment by rural people in their land to meet economic, cultural and spiritual needs. The book tests and demonstrates the value of the concept of landesque capital in theory and in practice, through case studies of landscape and agricultural history from Sweden to Solomon Islands, via Africa, Asia and Latin America. This is scholarship of a high order: theoretically sharp, empirically deep and highly relevant in a world searching for sustainability. Bill Adams, University of Cambridge Landesque Capital: The Historical Ecology of Enduring Landscape Modifications is a timely and important edited volume investigating the theoretical concept of landesque capital while relying on a global cross-cultural set of empirical studies. The volume provides a much needed bottom-up global perspective on sustainable food production systems as described by editors N. Thomas Hakansson and Mats Widgren. While this book is not about sustainability, the contributions are central to any discussion of global sustainability because they shine critical light on regional landscape perspectives, culture, and land use. Timothy Murtha, Environment and Society

Landesque Capital: The Historical Ecology of Enduring Landscape Modifications is a timely and important edited volume investigating the theoretical concept of landesque capital while relying on a global cross-cultural set of empirical studies. The volume provides a much needed bottom-up global perspective on sustainable food production systems as described by editors N. Thomas Hakansson and Mats Widgren. While this book is not about sustainability, the contributions are central to any discussion of global sustainability because they shine critical light on regional landscape perspectives, culture, and land use. Timothy Murtha, Environment and Society If a diverse group of scholars representing a variety of allied disciplines and working in assorted regions and time periods finds it a (productive and stimulating) challenge to unify their approaches to enduring landscape modifications, this is testament to the difficulty of simultaneously grappling with the conceptual and methodological challenges posed by palimpsest landscapes; the interplay of practice, process, and product; and an insidious but useful Cartesian nature-culture separation. The editors and contributors are to be commended for tackling this knotty problem. Journal of Anthropological Research This book, representing fresh work from several academic disciplines, on case studies from several continents, brings readers up to date with the current debates on the concept of 'landesque capital.' It shows convincingly how the features of an agrarian landscape terraces, irrigation ditches, and so forth are embedded both in social systems and in nature simultaneously. The book realizes the potential of historical ecology to illuminate both past and present, both locally and globally. J.R. McNeill, Georgetown University Landesque Capital is a delightful, diverse and invaluable book offering a detailed analysis of investment by rural people in their land to meet economic, cultural and spiritual needs. The book tests and demonstrates the value of the concept of landesque capital in theory and in practice, through case studies of landscape and agricultural history from Sweden to Solomon Islands, via Africa, Asia and Latin America. This is scholarship of a high order: theoretically sharp, empirically deep and highly relevant in a world searching for sustainability. Bill Adams, University of Cambridge Hakansson and Widgren consider well landesque capital, an underused concept critical for scholars studying the political economy and ecology of traditional societies. They show how an approach deriving broadly from landesque capital is vital to issues of sustainability and control. Dr. Timothy Earle, Northwestern University

This book, representing fresh work from several academic disciplines, on case studies from several continents, brings readers up to date with the current debates on the concept of 'landesque capital.' It shows convincingly how the features of an agrarian landscape -- terraces, irrigation ditches, and so forth -- are embedded both in social systems and in nature simultaneously. The book realizes the potential of historical ecology to illuminate both past and present, both locally and globally. --J.R. McNeill, Georgetown University If a diverse group of scholars representing a variety of allied disciplines and working in assorted regions and time periods finds it a (productive and stimulating) challenge to unify their approaches to enduring landscape modifications, this is testament to the difficulty of simultaneously grappling with the conceptual and methodological challenges posed by palimpsest landscapes; the interplay of practice, process, and product; and an insidious but useful Cartesian nature-culture separation. The editors and contributors are to be commended for tackling this knotty problem. --Journal of Anthropological Research Hakansson and Widgren consider well landesque capital, an underused concept critical for scholars studying the political economy and ecology of traditional societies. They show how an approach deriving broadly from landesque capital is vital to issues of sustainability and control. --Dr. Timothy Earle, Northwestern University Landesque Capital: The Historical Ecology of Enduring Landscape Modifications is a timely and important edited volume investigating the theoretical concept of landesque capital while relying on a global cross-cultural set of empirical studies. ... The volume provides a much needed bottom-up global perspective on sustainable food production systems as described by editors N. Thomas Hakansson and Mats Widgren. While this book is not about sustainability, the contributions are central to any discussion of global sustainability because they shine critical light on regional landscape perspectives, culture, and land use. --Timothy Murtha, Environment and Society Landesque Capital is a delightful, diverse and invaluable book offering a detailed analysis of investment by rural people in their land to meet economic, cultural and spiritual needs. The book tests and demonstrates the value of the concept of landesque capital in theory and in practice, through case studies of landscape and agricultural history from Sweden to Solomon Islands, via Africa, Asia and Latin America. This is scholarship of a high order: theoretically sharp, empirically deep and highly relevant in a world searching for sustainability. --Bill Adams, University of Cambridge

Landesque Capital: The Historical Ecology of Enduring Landscape Modifications is a timely and important edited volume investigating the theoretical concept of landesque capital while relying on a global cross-cultural set of empirical studies. The volume provides a much needed bottom-up global perspective on sustainable food production systems as described by editors N. Thomas Hakansson and Mats Widgren. While this book is not about sustainability, the contributions are central to any discussion of global sustainability because they shine critical light on regional landscape perspectives, culture, and land use. Timothy Murtha, Environment and Society

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Edited by Håkansson, N Thomas; Widgren, Mats

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