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Natives and aliens: Who and what belongs in nature and in the nation?
- Source :
-
Area . Jun2021, Vol. 53 Issue 2, p303-310. 8p. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- The paper offers a brief genealogy of the native/alien divide, both in the natural and social realm, and argues that central to this binary is a national thinking that divides the world into distinct (national) units, enclosed by (natural) borders, with a unique (native) population. It looks at two interrelated processes: the nationalisation of nature, by which the national thinking intervenes as an organising principle in determining ecological inclusion/exclusion, and the naturalisation of the nation, through which the nation is given an ontological status. Taken together, these two processes confirm the continuing salience of the nation as a b‐ordering principle actively constituting both the social and natural world, also in times of anthropogenic changes and increasing people's mobility. The distinction between native and alien species is a main tenet of various natural sciences, invasion biology in particular. However, it is also a contested one, as it does not reflect the biological features of a species, but only its place of origin and migration history. The present paper offers a brief genealogy of the native/alien divide and argues that central to this binary is a national thinking that divides the world into distinct (national) units, enclosed by (natural) borders, with a unique (native) population attached to these spatial units. The paper illustrates this argument by looking at two interrelated processes: the nationalisation of nature, by which the national thinking intervenes as an organising principle in determining ecological inclusion/exclusion, and the naturalisation of the nation, through which the nation is given an ontological status. Taken together these two processes confirm the continuing salience of the nation as a b‐ordering principle actively constituting both the social and natural world, also in times of anthropogenic changes and increasing people's mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *NATURAL history
*INTRODUCED species
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00040894
- Volume :
- 53
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Area
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 150774361
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12679