Rethinking Invasion Ecologies from the Environmental Humanities

Research from a uniquely humanist perspective has much to offer in interrogating the social and cultural ramifications of invasion ecologies. Written by a team of international scholars, this book allows us to rethink what has been a longstanding problem in global environmental history: the impact on national, regional or local ecologies of the deliberate or accidental introduction of foreign species, plant and animal. Modern environmental approaches that treat nature with naïve realism or mobilize it as a moral absolute, unaware or unwilling to accept that it is informed by specific cultural and temporal values, are doomed to fail. Instead this book shows that we need to understand the complex interactions of ecologies and societies in the past, present and future over the Anthropocene, in order to address problems of the global environmental crisis. The impossibility of securing national boundaries against accidental transfer; the development of wide-ranging gene manipulations; and the unpredictable climatic changes of our time have introduced new dimensions and hazards to this old issue. At the same time the growth of national and racial discourses leveled against the immigration of foreign nationals has increasingly seeped into ecological writing in favor of nativism and against alien species. Guarding against the intrusion of such disguised prejudice has never been more crucial. Moreover, ahistorical assumptions about what is and is not 'native' also cause widespread confusion and prejudice. This book takes a balanced view on these issues, showing positive and negative aspects of so-called 'ecological invasions', and demonstrating how humanistic methods and disciplines can be used to bring fresh clarity and perspective on this long vexed aspect of environmental thought and practice. Students and researchers in environmental studies, invasion ecology, conservation biology, environmental ethics, environmental history and environmental policy will welcome this major contribution to environmental humanities.