Davis, Diana K (Author)
An argument that the perception of arid lands as wastelands is politically motivated and that these landscapes are variable, biodiverse ecosystems, whose inhabitants must be empowered. Deserts are commonly imagined as barren, defiled, worthless places, wastelands in need of development. This understanding has fueled extensive anti-desertification efforts―a multimillion-dollar global campaign driven by perceptions of a looming crisis. In this book, Diana Davis argues that estimates of desertification have been significantly exaggerated and that deserts and drylands―which constitute about 41% of the earth's landmass―are actually resilient and biodiverse environments in which a great many indigenous people have long lived sustainably. Meanwhile, contemporary arid lands development programs and anti-desertification efforts have met with little success. As Davis explains, these environments are not governed by the equilibrium ecological dynamics that apply in most other regions. Davis shows that our notion of the arid lands as wastelands derives largely from politically motivated Anglo-European colonial assumptions that these regions had been laid waste by “traditional” uses of the land. Unfortunately, such assumptions still frequently inform policy. Drawing on political ecology and environmental history, Davis traces changes in our understanding of deserts, from the benign views of the classical era to Christian associations of the desert with sinful activities to later (neo)colonial assumptions of destruction. She further explains how our thinking about deserts is problematically related to our conceptions of forests and desiccation. Davis concludes that a new understanding of the arid lands as healthy, natural, but variable ecosystems that do not necessarily need improvement or development will facilitate a more sustainable future for the world's magnificent drylands.
...MoreReview Christian Harrison (January 2018) Review of "The Arid Lands: History, Power, Knowledge". Environmental History (pp. 203-204).
Book
David H. DeJong;
(2009)
Stealing the Gila: The Pima Agricultural Economy and Water Deprivation, 1848-1921
(/isis/citation/CBB161206534/)
Book
Philipp Lehmann;
(2022)
Desert Edens: Colonial Climate Engineering in the Age of Anxiety
(/isis/citation/CBB103107772/)
Book
Dr Leisl Carr-Childers;
(2015)
The Size of the Risk: Histories of Multiple Use in the Great Basin
(/isis/citation/CBB896056361/)
Book
Kumar, Deepak;
Damodaran, Vinita;
D'Souza, Rohan;
(2011)
The British Empire and the Natural World: Environmental Encounters in South Asia
(/isis/citation/CBB001201905/)
Article
Viktor Pál;
(2024)
The Second Hungarian Conquest of the Carpathian Basin: High Modernism and the Ecological Crisis in the Eastern Half of the Habsburg Empire during the Nineteenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB826841244/)
Article
Gael Keig;
Robin L. Hide;
Susan M. Cuddy;
Heinz Buettikofer;
Jennifer A. Bellamy;
Pieter Bleeker;
David Freyne;
John McAlpine;
(2019)
CSIRO and Land Research in Papua New Guinea 1950–2000: Part 1: Pre-Independence
(/isis/citation/CBB395559608/)
Book
Marsha L. Weisiger;
(2009)
Dreaming of Sheep in Navajo Country
(/isis/citation/CBB805061553/)
Book
Rothman, Hal;
Miller, Char;
(2013)
Death Valley National Park: A History
(/isis/citation/CBB001422339/)
Book
Davis, Diana K;
Burke, Edmund, III;
(2011)
Environmental Imaginaries of the Middle East and North Africa
(/isis/citation/CBB001422305/)
Thesis
Edgington, Ryan H.;
(2008)
Lines in the Sand: An Environmental History of Cold War New Mexico
(/isis/citation/CBB001561166/)
Book
Hoag, Heather J.;
(2013)
Developing the Rivers of East and West Africa: An Environmental History
(/isis/citation/CBB001422321/)
Book
Maya K. Peterson;
(2019)
Pipe Dreams: Water and Empire in Central Asia's Aral Sea Basin
(/isis/citation/CBB173163059/)
Book
Black, Brian C.;
(2012)
Crude Reality: Petroleum in World History
(/isis/citation/CBB001201520/)
Chapter
Francesco Baruffi;
(2022)
La pianificazione di bacino nel Distretto delle Alpi Orientali
(/isis/citation/CBB488985159/)
Chapter
Enzo Zennaro;
(2022)
Acque e pianificazione
(/isis/citation/CBB005354217/)
Book
Antonio Lazzarini;
(2021)
Boschi, legnami, costruzioni navali: L’Arsenale di Venezia fra XVI e XVIII secolo
(/isis/citation/CBB349759343/)
Book
Glen O'Hara;
(2017)
The politics of water in post-war Britain
(/isis/citation/CBB435552265/)
Book
Marco Leonardi;
(2017)
Aqua curanda est. Le acque e il loro utilizzo nei territori di Friburgo in Brisgovia e Catania dal XIII al XVI secolo
(/isis/citation/CBB366779880/)
Book
Peppino Ragonese;
(2020)
«Volendo servire la città di acque fresche e pure». L’approvvigionamento idrico nella città di Palermo dalla sorgente del Gabriele alla sorgente di Scillato (IX-XXI secolo)
(/isis/citation/CBB721488269/)
Chapter
Giorgio Zennaro;
(2022)
Il governo delle acque nella Serenissima
(/isis/citation/CBB785231894/)
Be the first to comment!