Latour's Gaia – Not down to Earth?. Lippert, I. In Bammé, A., Getzinger, G., & Berger, T., editors, Yearbook 2012 of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society, pages 91–111. Profil, 2014.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
In a recent instantiation by Bruno Latour of how STS can engage with matters of concern, he conceptualised a changing relationship by humans with earth. For Latour, scientists' notion ‘anthropocene’ illustrates that humans accept that their industrial activities are not merely causing some surface environmental problems but that they establish a geological force. He proposes: inside each of us, we have to struggle for properly engaging with Gaia (Lovelock). Questioning his individualist take, this paper reviews STS studies on how humans and societies enact the imagery of ‘being able to manage’ (environments). We find conflict. I argue, studying the doing of so-called environmental management shows that by this activity environments are not merely known, but also enacted. This move implies that competing of enactments of the subjection of environments to management are possible. Consequently, the performative qualities of environmental management emerge as a fundamentally politically and ethically relevant object of study.
@InCollection{Lippert:2013Not,
  author           = {Ingmar Lippert},
  booktitle        = {Yearbook 2012 of the Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society},
  publisher        = {Profil},
  title            = {Latour's Gaia -- Not down to Earth?},
  year             = {2014},
  editor           = {Arno Bamm\'{e} and G\"{u}nter Getzinger and Thomas Berger},
  pages            = {91--111},
  abstract         = {In a recent instantiation by Bruno Latour of how STS can engage with matters of concern, he conceptualised a changing relationship by humans with earth. For Latour, scientists' notion ‘anthropocene’ illustrates that humans accept that their industrial activities are not merely causing some surface environmental problems but that they establish a geological force. He proposes: inside each of us, we have to struggle for properly engaging with Gaia (Lovelock). Questioning his individualist take, this paper reviews STS studies on how humans and societies enact the imagery of ‘being able to manage’ (environments). We find conflict. I argue, studying the doing of so-called environmental management shows that by this activity environments are not merely known, but also enacted. This move implies that competing of enactments of the subjection of environments to management are possible. Consequently, the performative qualities of environmental management emerge as a fundamentally politically and ethically relevant object of study.},
  doi              = {10/bbnb},
  location         = {Wien and M\"{u}nchen},
  modificationdate = {2024-01-26T14:26:12},
  subtitle         = {Social Studies of Environmental Management for Grounded Understandings of the Politics of Human-Nature Relationships},
}

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