In recent years, the debate in political ecology has begun to address the problem of knowledge reconfiguration, especially for the understanding of socio-ecological crises (Bini, Capocefalo, Rinauro, 2024). In this debate, the problem of the highly colonial nature of the categories used in research has re-emerged. Classical ecology has established itself as a fundamental science for the core areas of world-systems and for the maintenance of the patterns and life standards of Western metropolises. According to Malcolm Ferdinand (2023), ecology established itself in strongly colonial terms, providing a perspective on nature inherent to colonial processes of world appropriation. In a recent conversation with Ishfaq Hussain Malik (Malik, 2024), Paul Robbins returned to this issue, arguing that political ecology needs to address the questions of how knowledge is produced, but also the political consequences of a decolonial discourse, starting by that of land ownership.

In which direction are political ecology studies going? How is the category of limit changing in relation to ongoing wars? Can political ecology become an analytical proposal to accompany the processes of decolonisation of knowledge?

Lise Desvallées, Xavier Arnauld de Sartre and Christian Kull (2022) identify the epistemic communities of political ecology, by isolating two major groups in the recent debate, one deconstructivist and the other ‘advocacy-oriented’. Their study concludes that research in the field of political ecology, especially in Europe, is moving towards degrowth and radical activism, separating itself from an approach that is termed classical, which is more theoretical and directed towards analysis on the ground.

The panel aims to discuss changes in recent debates and research practices, by discussing contributions on:

– Epistemic communities of political ecology

– Research methodologies and colonial and extractivist epistemologies

– Ecological conflicts

– Experiences of community research or collective knowledge production

– Decolonisation of study and research practices

– Reinterpretation of the categories of ecological debate

References

Bini V., Capocefalo V., Rinauro S. ed., (2024). Geografia e ecologia politica. Memorie Geografiche, vol. XXIV.

Desvallées L., Arnauld de Sartre X. e Kull. C. A. (2022). Epistemic communities in political ecology: critical deconstruction or radical advocacy?. Journal of Political Ecology, 29: 309-340.

Ferdinand M. (2022). Decolonial Ecology: Thinking from the Caribbean World. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Malik I. H. (2024). Can political ecology be decolonised? A dialogue with Paul Robbins. Geo: Geography and Environment, 11:e00140.