Making Sense of Nature

Noel Castree is Professor of Geography at Manchester University, England. He’s the co-editor of Social nature: theory, practice and politics (2001) and author of Nature: the adventures of a concept (2004).

• Preface: Nature is Here, There and Everywhere Part I. How to Make Sense of Sense Making 1. How we Make Sense of (what we call) Nature 2. Representing Nature 3. Governing Society with Reference to the Natural Part II. Representations and their Effects 4. Unnatural Constructions 5. Enclosing Nature: Borders, Boundaries and Transgressions 6. The Uses of Nature: Power and Representation Part III. Key Epistemic Communities: The Making , Mobilisation and Regulation of Nature-Knowledge Today 7. Nature’s Principal Representatives: The Mass Media 8. Expertise, The Democratisation of Knowledge and Participatory Decision-making: The Nature of Science 9. Conclusion: Making Better Sense of Sense Making Glossary Further reading How to use this book Endnote: Why we (still) need to talk about ‘nature’ Bibliography

"Noel Castree has written another bestseller. This book effortlessly synthesises from across the social and natural sciences a huge body of knowledge and reflection on the idea of ‘nature’. Castree engages with all the important debates and authors and makes them accessible for his reader, offering not closed answers but lively provocations to further thought. This is geographical scholarship at its very best." Mike Hulme, Professor of Climate and Culture, King’s College London, UK."Challenging our sources of knowledge, from the media to activist and scientific writing, Making Sense of Nature gives us powerful tools to think with. I’d put this book in the hands of anyone who wants to jar their own thinking, undermine their own assumptions, and make up their own mind about people and the natural world." Professor Paul Robbins, Director, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA."This accessible and interdisciplinary textbook…has a useful analysis of the relationship between the scientific and entertainment communities whereby specialist knowledge has to be condensed and then translated into a visual narrative." Network Review."A new book from Noel Castree is a treat, and we should be grateful that a scholar of his eminence has invested so much effort into a teaching volume, one aimed at upper level undergraduates and master’s students. In this book, Castree also aspires to a general readership." Lesley Head, Department of Geography and Sustainable Communities, University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia."This accessible and interdisciplinary textbook shows how wide and contested the term nature can be, indicating how epistemically dependent the general public is on a small number of specialists - epistemic workers working in epistemic communities." David Lorimer, Network Review