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The long-term (AD 1300–1800), multi-scale interactions of monocropping and subaltern agri-food systems of Andalus (Spain) and coastal Peru reveal the entangled transformations of the Plantationocene. Historically convergent colonial monocultures (wheat, sugar, cotton, sheep, cattle) entangled with the divergence and plurality of resilient yet precarious diverse-food affordances of subaltern groups (peasants, indigenous people, enslaved persons, Mudejares, Moriscos). Using political ecology, the comparative cases illuminate how Plantationocene colonial entanglements were shaped through spatial movements and social-environmental affordances of biota, populations, and institutions. New empirical understanding and a novel conceptual and analytical framework offer insight into Plantationocene pathways, alternatives, and struggles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As "peak water" is passed, competition between blueberry growers and other farmers and water users will likely intensify, and blueberry production will potentially exacerbate the already conflictive division of water rights (e.g. the ongoing conflicts surrounding the water stored in Lake Paron involving Comunidades Campesinas, the Cañon del Pato hydroelectric plant, and large-scale coastal agriculture) ([9]). Further global dimensions of Caraz blueberry-growing are evidenced in the infrastructural technologies of plastic coverings and the structural design for high tunnel blueberry production. At the time of writing, irrigation was relatively abundant in the blueberry-growing sectors that are receiving a one-time increase in glacial meltwater likely generated by global climate change ([6]), which also supplies the blueberry cultivation on the coast ([5]). The blueberry companies consider labor to be a limiting factor exerting upward wage pressure amid the increasing blueberry production. [Extracted from the article]

Archaeologists use the landscape to explain the past, often referring to traditional or indigenous knowledge to better understand that landscape. But how is this analogical process performed, and how is indigenous knowledge understood and recorded? This article examines Peruvian geographer Javier Pulgar Vidal's concept of suni —a term with several definitions in Aymara and Quechua, but which was transformed by Pulgar Vidal into a "Natural Region," in other words a meaningful portion of the landscape—as an entry point into this broader issue. Suni is important because it is a poorly defined part of a wider Andean landscape model supposedly based on indigenous knowledge and because it is commonly used by archaeologists to explain precolonial land use and landscapes. Through analysis of the creation and application of suni, we define major challenges faced by archaeologists when interpreting sites and materials in landscape perspective and present suggestions for moving forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical political ecology provides a powerful framework for understanding nature–society relations in the past. This approach is applied to municipal drinking water governance in early colonial Lima, Peru, with a focus on how power dynamics influenced sociospatial patterns of water access and control. Sixteenth- and seventeenth-century archival sources are analyzed for material aspects of Lima's drinking water pipeline network and for the management strategies employed by the municipal government. Access to water is demonstrated to have shaped, reinforced, and reflected colonial social divisions and to have been linked to the spatial development of the city, including urban–rural relations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

"Palm Oil Diaspora" by Case Watkins is a comprehensive study that examines the history and significance of palm oil in the cultural, economic, and ecological landscapes of Bahia, Brazil. The book explores the transoceanic movement of palm oil from West Africa to Brazil and its integration into Afro-Brazilian communities. It highlights the erasure of African knowledge and contributions to palm oil production and emphasizes the importance of understanding power dynamics and agency in the context of baianidade. The book offers a nuanced perspective on palm oil as a symbol of both oppression and resilience within Afro-Brazilian culture. [Extracted from the article]