The articles in this special section, by offering ethnographically grounded reflections on diverse strains of economic activism, begin to articulate a non-capitalocentric political ecology that we think can help scholaractivists politicize, reimagine, and recreate socio-ecological relations. In this introductory article, we offer a useful vision of how scholar-activists can engage with and support more just and sustainable ways of organizing human–human and human–environment relations. Specifically, we argue that engaged researchers can significantly contribute to a meaningful "ecological revolution" by (1) examining the tremendously diverse, already-existing experiments with other ways of being in the world, (2) helping to develop alternative visions, analyses, narratives, and desires that can move people to desire and adopt those ways of being, and (3) actively supporting and constructing economies and ecologies with alternative ethical orientations. Each article in this collection attempts one or more of these goals, and this introductory article provides a conceptual grounding for these ethnographic studies and a synthesis of some of their primary contributions. We begin by describing why critique is analytically and politically inadequate and explain why we think a non-capitalocentric ontology offers an essential complement for engaged scholarship. We then turn to the work of J.K. Gibson-Graham and the Community Economies Collective in order to explain how ideas of overdetermination, diverse economies, and performativity better equip the field of political ecology to contribute to alternative futures. And finally, we discuss how the articles in this volume reconceptualize values, politics, and scale in a manner that illuminates our scholarly and activist efforts.Keywords: non-capitalism, political ecology, alternative economies, capitalism, scale, values, politics, Gibson-Graham
The green economy is put forward as an apposite remedy to both economic crisis and ecological devastation. Policy makers, academics, corporate interests and activists are advancing their goals as part of and through the green economy, a discursive terrain full of circulating and competing ideas about, dispositions towards, and desires for the economy. In Massachusetts, broad-based coalitions involving labor, environmentalists and community groups have emerged to capture funding, influence policy and launch their own economic initiatives. This paper explores and compares the activities of two green economy coalitions. I investigate how social actors, including myself, have been negotiating, responding to, and producing the meaning of the green economy, and the meaning of "the economy" writ-large, through our political efforts. I aim to move beyond a project that only critiques capitalism or maps out capitalist hegemony. Instead, taking inspiration and drawing from J.K. Gibson-Graham I look to theorize and amplify non-capitalist initiatives and enterprises. I am particularly interested in thinking about the ways in which the expression of different desires for economy can lead to openings, or closures, for the construction of non-capitalist relationships, initiatives, and enterprises Résumé L'économie verte est mise en avant comme un remède pertinent à la fois la crise économique et la dévastation écologique. Les décideurs politiques, les universitaires, les intérêts des entreprises et des militants avancent leurs objectifs dans le cadre de, et par l'économie verte, un terrain discursive pleine de circulation et d'idées concurrentes sur, dispositions à l'égard, et les désirs de l'économie. A Massachusetts, de coalitions impliquant les travailleurs, les écologistes et les groupes communautaires ont vu le jour pour assurer le financement, la politique de l'influence et de lancer leurs propres initiatives économiques. Cet article explore et compare les activités des deux coalitions de l'économie verte. J'étudie comment les acteurs sociaux, y compris moi-même, ont négocié, en réponse à, et produisent le sens de l'économie verte. Le sens de «l'économie» est produite par des efforts politiques. Je cherche à aller plus loin que la critique du capitalisme ou la cartographie de l'hégémonie capitaliste. Au lieu de cela, en s'inspirant de J.K. Gibson-Graham, je théoriser et d'amplifier les initiatives et des entreprises non-capitalistes. Je suis particulièrement intéressé par la réflexion sur la façon dont les initiatives et les entreprises peut conduire à des ouvertures ou fermetures, et l'expression des désirs économique pour la construction des relations non-capitalistes. Mots clés: L'économie verte, la subjectivité économique, Gibson-Graham, non-capitalisme, l'imaginaire ResumenLa economía verde es presentada como un remedio a la crisis económica y a la devastación ecológica. Formuladores de política, académicos, intereses corporativos y activistas están avanzando en sus objetivos como parte de y a través de la economía v...
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