Henri Lefebvre's conception of nature-society in the revolutionary project of autogestion

When related to his conception of nature and society, Henri Lefebvre's concept of autogestion indicates the possibilities for a radical response to the social-ecological crises of capital in the twenty first century. Reuniting his radical critique of the capitalist production of space with his theorization of autogestion as a radical praxis aimed at total transformation offers a corrective to common, speculative appropriations of the former, while offering valuable insight into Lefebvre's observations regarding the centrality of the reappropriation of space to any genuinely radical project. Moreover, relating these concepts to his conception of nature-society and his engagement with what is now known as Marx's theory of metabolic rift indicates how a radical reappropriation of space, time, and the body also entails a transformation of humanity's relationship and metabolic interchange with the rest of nature.

Antinomies of space and nature or an open totality? Neil Smith and Henri Lefebvre on nature and society

Prior to recent, systematic engagement with the whole of his corpus, geographical appropriation of the thought of Henri Lefebvre has tended to be been fragmentary and eclectic. This is aptly illustrated in Neil Smith's paradoxical claim that his production of nature thesis was inspired by Lefebvre's work on the production of space even as Smith rejected or misunderstood most of what Lefebvre actually said while reworking the production of space into an epiphenomenon of the production of nature. This paper is one of several that ramified out of our call to re-evaluate Lefebvre's conception of the nature-society dialectic in geography, and compare it and contrast it to other understandings and theorizations of the problematic. In this paper, we focus primarily on interrogating Smith's influential portrayal of Lefebvre's thought on the dialectics of nature and society, reconsider Lefebvre's discussion of the domination of nature---a category on which much of Smith's thesis pivots---, and how Lefebvre's grasp of what is now referred to as Marx's theory of metabolic rift offers an alternative route to a spatial-ecological critique of capital than various attempts to "ecologize" David Harvey's theory of spatial fix.

Sustainability and Metabolic Revolution in the Works of Henri Lefebvre

A paper that we wrote, based on a study of the translated portion of Henri Lefebvre's corpus, on the potential insights that his conception of the oppositional unity of nature-society offers into questions of sustainability, was just published in World. The paper looks primarily at Lefebvre's relation to contemporary issues of sustainability in terms of three central themes: the urban revolution, autogestion, and the critique of everyday life and the notion of total revolution. The hope is to stimulate further thought and discussion, as well as consideration of how other aspects of Lefebvre's work could be brought to bear on a radical project of sustainability in the context of a comprehensive social transformation.

An ecological-Marxist response to the Half-Earth Project

A paper I wrote together with Brett Clark critiquing a widely circulated "ecocentric" argument claiming that concerns for the fate of nature should override any concerns with social justice in conservation was just published Ahead-of-print in Conservation and Society. Building on the theory of metabolic rift, the paper offers an explicitly Marxist perspective on the proposal to set aside at least half the Earth's surface for biodiversity conservation. Here are the details:
DOI: 10.4103/cs.cs_19_99

Making Space in Critical Environmental Geography for the Metabolic Rift

The Version of Record of our article in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers making the case for stronger engagement with Marx's theory of metabolic rift in geography was published online today. In the article, we critically assess two other Marxist framings in geography from  which criticisms of the theory of metabolic rift have been made, then clarify several important conceptual aspects of the theory that have been misunderstood as a result of these criticisms. We then finish with a discussion of how the theory of metabolic rift relates to key themes in critical environmental geography, and how stronger engagement here could benefit the field. The article is available at Taylor & Francis Online: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2019.1598841

Geographic rift in the urban periphery

The preprint of our article in the Journal of Latin American Geography describing work on the use of the concept of geographic rift---i.e., a metabolic rift referring to the spatio-geographical antagonisms associated with the disjuncture between material and value flows through the landscape---to examine the drivers and processes of land change in Morelia's urban periphery was just released. It can be accessed through Project Muse: https://doi.org/10.1353/lag.0.0106

Half-Earth: A biodiversity ‘solution’ that solves nothing

Variants of the half-Earth biodiversity conservation initiative, recently popularized by E.O. Wilson, have increasingly been gaining acceptance among conservationists. While the boldness of their proposal is commendable, placing half the Earth in protected areas only addresses the immediate causes of the biodiversity crisis, and even this conflicts with the land-use mandates of capital. As I argue in a recent article in Climate & Capitalism, ecological Marxism does not reject protected areas, but more fundamentally points out the need for a co-revolutionary struggle against alienation.

Ecological Marxism vs. environmental neo-Malthusianism

A short piece I wrote for Climate & Capitalism on this age-old debate between Marxism and populationism was just published. It offers a brief overview of the Marxist critique of Malthus's original argument and their contemporary Green permutations. The main thesis is that this ideology misrepresents social and ecological problems, and thereby promotes solutions that exacerbate the underlying contradictions of which these problems are symptoms

Has (even Marxist) political ecology really transcended the metabolic rift?

A brief article advocating for stronger engagement with the concept of metabolic rift in political ecology that I authored together with several colleagues was just published in Geoforum. In this article, we address several of the criticisms of metabolic-rift scholarship that have been made in political ecology by explicating some basic aspects of the concept's underlying materialist dialectic and contrasting this with some of the predominant post-modernist theorization in political ecology. The article details are provided below.

Grassroots Innovation Using Drones for Indigenous Mapping and Monitoring

A paper I co-authored under Jaime Paneque-Gálvez regarding the use of drones in indigenous territorial defense was just published in Land. The article describes several projects undertaken in Latin America to help indigenous communities adopt drone technology in their efforts to protect their territories, and discusses several issues that arise in this context.

The Role of Geographical Landscape Studies for Sustainable Territorial Planning

A paper I co-authored with several colleagues under Iván Franch-Pardo discussing the role of different methods of geographic landscape delineation in territorial planning was just published in the open-access journal Sustainability. The paper examines the approach to landscape mapping and evaluation in five different methodologies situated along a gradient from predominantly physical to predominantly social (but still rooted in an epistemological approach that emphasizes material factors), and assesses how they contribute to territorial planning for "sustainability."

The prospects of terrace agriculture as an adaptation to climate change in Latin America

A paper I co-authored with Dr. Bocco regarding the potential role of terrace agriculture in helping peasant farmers cope with the effects of climate change was just published in Geography Compass. 

Fundamentos de ecología política: Acumulación por reprodución amplia y sus contradicciones

Notas para discusión: Acumulación por reproducción amplia y sus contradicciones

Brian Michael Napoletano

Fundamentos de ecología política

Lecturas

• Rosa Luxemburg. 1951. The Accumulation of Capital. Chapters 1 & 32.

Discusión

Las contradicciones de la producción capitalista y el problema de reproducción

• El sistema capitalista es el único en que la producción puede parar a pesar de la disponibilidad de los medios de producción y la mano de obra
  • Una sobra de capital y mano de obra sin una forma para combinarlos para generar ganancias
• También, es el única en que se puede tener una crisis de sobreproducción mientras no satisface las necesidades de los personas
• La ganancia es lo que determina la producción, o, más especifico, la creación y realización de plus-valor (véase abajo)
• La producción es por productores aislados sin un plan y coordinación
• ¿Cómo demonios es posible la reproducción en estas condiciones?

Fundamentos de ecología política: Materialismo histórico

Notas para discusión: Materialismo histórico

Brian Michael Napoletano

Fundamentos de ecología política

Lecturas

• Peet, Richard. 1991. “Historical materialism,” capítulo 5 de Global Capitalism: Theories of Societal Development. New York: Routledge.
• Harvey, David. 2001. “On the history and present condition of geography: an historical materialist manifesto,” capítulo 6 de Spaces of Capital: Towards a Critical Geography, New York: Routledge.

Textos recomendados

• Harnecker, Marta. 1969. Los Conceptos Elementales del Materialismo Histórico. Primera edición (México). 260 pp. México: Siglo veintiuno editores, S. A.

Vídeos

• “Shit does not just happen: An introduction to Historical Materialism” (“La mierda no sólo sucede: Una introducción al materialismo histórico”). r21 – revolutionary socialism in the 21st century. YouTube: https://youtu.be/Ot3_Gs1UhFg

Spatial Fix and Metabolic Rift as Conceptual Tools in Land-Change Science

Napoletano, B. M., J. Panaque-Gálvez, and A. Vieyra. 2015.
Spatial Fix and Metabolic Rift as Conceptual Tools in Land-Change Science.
Capitalism Nature Socialism: Vol. 26, No. 4, pp. 198-214.
doi: 10.1080/10455752.2015.1104706

Gramsci's analysis of hegemony

The following outline on Gramsci and hegemony was originally posted on another blog I had attempted to maintain. The final presentation deviated from this outline to some extent, but I believe that the outline still may be of use.