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Nature Environmental Conservation & Protection

Settler Ecologies

The Enduring Nature of Settler Colonialism in Kenya

by (author) Charis Enns & Brock Bersaglio

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Apr 2024
Category
Environmental Conservation & Protection, Cultural, Geography
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781487553616
    Publish Date
    Apr 2024
    List Price
    $34.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781487557409
    Publish Date
    May 2024
    List Price
    $34.95

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Description

Settler Ecologies tells the story of how settler colonialism becomes memorialized and lives on through ecological relations. Drawing on eight years of research in Laikipia, Kenya, Charis Enns and Brock Bersaglio use immersive methods to reveal how animals and plants can be enrolled in the reproduction of settler colonialism.

 

The book details how ecological relations have been unmade and remade to enable settler colonialism to endure as a structure in this part of Kenya. It describes five modes of violent ecological transformation used to prolong structures of settler colonialism: eliminating undesired wild species; rewilding landscapes with more desirable species to settler ecologists; selectively repeopling wilderness to create seemingly more inclusive wild spaces and capitalize on biocultural diversity; rescuing injured animals and species at risk of extinction to shore up moral support for settler ecologies; and extending settler ecologies through landscape approaches to conservation that scale wild spaces.

 

Settler Ecologies serves as a cautionary tale for future conservation agendas in all settler colonies. While urgent action is needed to halt global biodiversity loss, this book underscores the need to continually question whether the types of nature being preserved advance settler colonial structures or create conditions in which ecologies can otherwise be (re)made and flourish.

About the authors

Charis Enns is a presidential fellow in socio-environmental systems at the Global Development Institute at the University of Manchester.

Charis Enns' profile page

Brock Bersaglio is an associate professor of environment and development in the International Development Department at the University of Birmingham.

Brock Bersaglio's profile page