Description
In The Geographies of Social Movements Ulrich Oslender proposes a critical place perspective to examine the activism of black communities in the lowland rain forest of Colombia's Pacific Coast region. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork in and around the town of Guapi, Oslender examines how the work of local community councils, which have organized around newly granted ethnic and land rights since the early 1990s, is anchored to space and place. Exploring how residents' social relationships are entangled with the region's rivers, streams, swamps, rain, and tides, Oslender argues that this "aquatic space"-his conceptualization of the mutually constitutive relationships between people and their rain forest environment-provides a local epistemology that has shaped the political process. Oslender demonstrates that social mobilization among Colombia's Pacific Coast black communities is best understood as emerging out of their place-based identity and environmental imaginaries. He argues that the critical place perspective proposed accounts more fully for the multiple, multiscalar, rooted, and networked experiences within social movements.
About the Author
Ulrich Oslender is Associate Professor of Geography at Florida International University and the coeditor of Bridging Scholarship and Activism: Reflections from the Frontlines of Collaborative Research.
Reviews
"Readers from geography, sociology, resource management, sustainability, Latin American studies, peasant studies, political science, and related fields will find value in this work." -- Joseph L. Scarpaci * AAG Review of Books *
"Oslender masterfully ties different threads together to form a compelling argument about the importance of place and space in charting social movement. . . . I cannot help but think of the immense value of this approach for understanding the present U.S. political situation. . . . In a cultural moment that seems increasingly punctuated with high-visibility social movements-I am thinking of Standing Rock and of the Women's March, for example-Oslender offers a new, more nuanced way to situate our understandings of resistance and movement." -- Kourtney Kinsel * AmeriQuests *
"Ulrich Oslender has produced a significant contribution to the literature on place, space, and social movements. This manuscript convincingly argues for a critical and multi-scalar examination of human and non-human entanglements through his concept of aquatic space." -- Maurice Rafael Magana * Anthropological Forum *
"With this carefully researched, well-written examination of issues facing Colombia's Pacific lowlands in the twenty-first century, Ulrich Oslender offers two important contributions: first, the elaboration of an innovative, theoretical template inspired by the region's unique geography as a lens to analyze developments that have and are occuring there; and second, a history of the region that reviews its development from colonial times to present." -- Jane M. Rausch * Journal of Global South Studies *
"Oslender's book is an important contribution to our understanding of social movements, and particularly of Afro-Colombian social mobilization. He shows that traditional accounts of social movements pay attention to their scripts, their documents, and their struggles." -- Farid Samir Benavides Vanegas * Left History *
"We can learn from how Oslender adds a critical place perspective to theories of social movements. He indeed demonstrates that concepts of space and place are central to thinking about how people mobilize as political collectives." -- Allison Koch * Environment and Society *
"Oslender's beautifully crafted book is also the product of many years of research-and it likewise benefits from a depth of expertise. . . . Oslender is trained as a geographer, but the book is deeply ethnographic and will be of interest to anthropologists of water, space, place, and social movements. In beautiful prose, he recounts the way the tides configure everyday life among this fishing community, where both travel and livelihoods pulse with their rhythms, while arguing that peasant activism emerges from these specific contexts." -- Colin Hoag * PoLAR *
Book Information
ISBN 9780822361220
Author Ulrich Oslender
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 408g
About the Author
Ulrich Oslender is Associate Professor of Geography at Florida International University and the coeditor of Bridging Scholarship and Activism: Reflections from the Frontlines of Collaborative Research.
Reviews
"Readers from geography, sociology, resource management, sustainability, Latin American studies, peasant studies, political science, and related fields will find value in this work." -- Joseph L. Scarpaci * AAG Review of Books *
"Oslender masterfully ties different threads together to form a compelling argument about the importance of place and space in charting social movement. . . . I cannot help but think of the immense value of this approach for understanding the present U.S. political situation. . . . In a cultural moment that seems increasingly punctuated with high-visibility social movements-I am thinking of Standing Rock and of the Women's March, for example-Oslender offers a new, more nuanced way to situate our understandings of resistance and movement." -- Kourtney Kinsel * AmeriQuests *
"Ulrich Oslender has produced a significant contribution to the literature on place, space, and social movements. This manuscript convincingly argues for a critical and multi-scalar examination of human and non-human entanglements through his concept of aquatic space." -- Maurice Rafael Magana * Anthropological Forum *
"With this carefully researched, well-written examination of issues facing Colombia's Pacific lowlands in the twenty-first century, Ulrich Oslender offers two important contributions: first, the elaboration of an innovative, theoretical template inspired by the region's unique geography as a lens to analyze developments that have and are occuring there; and second, a history of the region that reviews its development from colonial times to present." -- Jane M. Rausch * Journal of Global South Studies *
"Oslender's book is an important contribution to our understanding of social movements, and particularly of Afro-Colombian social mobilization. He shows that traditional accounts of social movements pay attention to their scripts, their documents, and their struggles." -- Farid Samir Benavides Vanegas * Left History *
"We can learn from how Oslender adds a critical place perspective to theories of social movements. He indeed demonstrates that concepts of space and place are central to thinking about how people mobilize as political collectives." -- Allison Koch * Environment and Society *
"Oslender's beautifully crafted book is also the product of many years of research-and it likewise benefits from a depth of expertise. . . . Oslender is trained as a geographer, but the book is deeply ethnographic and will be of interest to anthropologists of water, space, place, and social movements. In beautiful prose, he recounts the way the tides configure everyday life among this fishing community, where both travel and livelihoods pulse with their rhythms, while arguing that peasant activism emerges from these specific contexts." -- Colin Hoag * PoLAR *
Book Information
ISBN 9780822361220
Author Ulrich Oslender
Format Paperback
Page Count 304
Imprint Duke University Press
Publisher Duke University Press
Weight(grams) 408g
