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Articulating Social Science in the Wild of Global Natures? On Economics and Anthropology in Transnational Environmental Politics

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  • Anders Blok

    (Department of Sociololgy, Copenhagen University, Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 16, DK-1014 København K, Denmark)

Abstract

Building on multisited ethnographic case studies, this paper seeks to contrastively compare the demonstration and articulation formats of two social science expert cultures—economics and anthropology—enrolled ‘in the wild’ of transnational environmental politics. How, the paper asks, do different social sciences come to be configured within, and do performative work upon, heterogeneous assemblages of global natures? In the first case US economists translate carbon markets into a world of Indian ecoprofessionals, across serious North–South conflicts in climate politics. In the second case a group of anthropologists, mobilized by Japanese bureaucratic elites, deploy their methods to assemble whaling cultures, as part of global biodiversity conflicts. Whereas the first case builds on existing arguments on the ‘performativity of economics' (Callon), the second case expands this agenda, noting how the noneconomic social sciences (eg, anthropology) may also be consequential in enacting particular nature-cultures. Theoretically, the paper situates these inquiries at the intersection of science and technology studies (STS) and political anthropology, in addressing the question—important to environmental expertise and politics—of how ‘local’ (particular) and ‘global’ (universal) claims are linked in efficacious ways in ‘other-than-Western’ contexts? Here, the argument will be that, despite their differences, economic and anthropological performances of global natures share certain formal (aesthetic) similarities, related to credible expert demonstrations in transnational environmental contexts. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of this claim for STS self-reflection on its politics of methods.

Suggested Citation

  • Anders Blok, 2014. "Articulating Social Science in the Wild of Global Natures? On Economics and Anthropology in Transnational Environmental Politics," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(9), pages 2125-2142, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:46:y:2014:i:9:p:2125-2142
    DOI: 10.1068/a469
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anders Blok, 2008. "Contesting Global Norms: Politics of Identity in Japanese Pro-Whaling Countermobilization," Global Environmental Politics, MIT Press, vol. 8(2), pages 39-66, May.
    2. Callon, Michel, 2009. "Civilizing markets: Carbon trading between in vitro and in vivo experiments," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3-4), pages 535-548, April.
    3. MacKenzie, Donald, 2009. "Making things the same: Gases, emission rights and the politics of carbon markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3-4), pages 440-455, April.
    4. Charlotte Epstein, 2008. "The Power of Words in International Relations: Birth of an Anti-Whaling Discourse," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262550695, December.
    5. Charlotte Epstein, 2008. "The Power of Words in International Relations: Birth of an Anti-Whaling Discourse," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262050927, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Shaozeng Zhang, 2017. "From externality in economics to leakage in carbon markets: An anthropological approach to market making," Economic Anthropology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 4(1), pages 132-143, January.

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