Locating nature's citizens: Latin American ecologies of political space

Abstract

Scholars of environmental citizenship have often drawn attention to the spatial mismatch between ecological systems and nation-states, arguing that citizenship needs to be scaled up to meet global environmental challenges. I argue that rethinking the scale of ecopolitical engagement requires moving beyond a simple spatial hierarchy topped by ‘the global’. Debates in human geography lead us towards a relational conception of space, where densely networked interactions produce dynamic and multi-layered configurations of actors. Supplementing this perspective with political-ecological and post-humanist theories of human–nature interaction, citizenship can be understood as a process of political becoming within shifting assemblages of socio-ecological relationships. The second half of the analysis deploys this theoretical perspective to narrate three vignettes that locate nature's citizens in a diversity of socio-ecological contexts, debates and conflicts in Latin America. Drawing on regional scholarship, these vignettes examine the political ecology of citizenship in relation to water, climate governance and the struggles of indigenous peoples.