Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor

Rob Nixon

Published by Harvard University Press 2011

Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor

Rob Nixon

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674061194

Overview
Contents

About this book

The violence wrought by climate change, toxic drift, deforestation, oil spills, and the environmental aftermath of war takes place gradually and often invisibly. Using the innovative concept of “slow violence” to describe these threats, Rob Nixon focuses on the inattention we have paid to the attritional lethality of many environmental crises, in contrast with the sensational, spectacle-driven messaging that impels public activism today. Slow violence, because it is so readily ignored by a hard-charging capitalism, exacerbates the vulnerability of ecosystems and of people who are poor, disempowered, and often involuntarily displaced, while fueling social conflicts that arise from desperation as life-sustaining conditions erode.

In a book of extraordinary scope, Nixon examines a cluster of writer-activists affiliated with the environmentalism of the poor in the global South. By approaching environmental justice literature from this transnational perspective, he exposes the limitations of the national and local frames that dominate environmental writing. And by skillfully illuminating the strategies these writer-activists deploy to give dramatic visibility to environmental emergencies, Nixon invites his readers to engage with some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Author information

Nixon Rob :

Rob Nixon is Rachel Carson Professor of English, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Among his many books is Dreambirds: The Natural History of a Fantasy. He is a frequent contributor to the New York Times.

Topics

Frontmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	i
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Slow Violence, Neoliberalism, and the Environmental Picaresque Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	45
2. Fast-forward Fossil Petro-despotism and the Resource Curse Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
3. Pipedreams Ken Saro-Wiwa, Environmental Justice, and Micro-minority Rights Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	103
4. Slow Violence, Gender, and the Environmentalism of the Poor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	128
5. Unimagined Communities Megadams, Monumental Modernity, and Developmental Refugees Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	150
6. Stranger in the Eco-village Race, Tourism, and Environmental Time Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	175
7. Ecologies of the Aftermath Precision Warfare and Slow Violence Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	199
8. Environmentalism, Postcolonialism, and American Studies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	233
Epilogue Scenes from the Seabed: The Future of Dissent Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263
Notes Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	339
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	343
Backmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	354

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 370
Illustrations
- Other: 5 halftones

eBook

Published: June 1, 2011
ISBN: 9780674061194