The Patagonian Sublime
The Green Economy and Post-Neoliberal Politics
Marcos Mendoza (Author)
9780813596754
Hardback, published 1 October 2018
244 pages, 14 b&w
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.481 kg
"The Patagonian Sublime is a groundbreaking analysis of the green economy's contradictory logics in post-neoliberal Argentina. While Mendoza's book is one of the most important contributions to political ecology in years, it is his vivid and nuanced portrayal of the mountaineers, trekkers, and others who work, play and risk their lives in these Alpine landscapes that will keep you reading."
— Laura Ogden, author of Swamplife: People, Gators, and Mangroves Entangled in the Everglades
"In this compelling book, Marcos Mendoza captures the ambivalent allure both of the imposing Patagonian landscape and of the ecotourism economy nurtured within it by the progressively populist Kirchners. Evocatively written and elegantly argued, The Patagonian Sublime will be of interest to scholars and students in diverse fields including anthropology, geography and political ecology as well as environmental, development and Latin American studies."
— Robert Fletcher, author of Romancing the Wild: Cultural Dimensions of Ecotourism
"A rewarding and generous book....Its writing style captures different levels of complexity, and the book will therefore be useful for teaching on both undergraduate and graduate courses of anthropology, geography, political ecology and environmental sciences. It is also a pleasure to read if one simply wants to read a good book."
— Journal of Latin American Studies
"The Patagonian Sublime is a groundbreaking analysis of the green economy's contradictory logics in post-neoliberal Argentina. While Mendoza's book is one of the most important contributions to political ecology in years, it is his vivid and nuanced portrayal of the mountaineers, trekkers, and others who work, play and risk their lives in these Alpine landscapes that will keep you reading."
— Laura Ogden, author of Swamplife: People, Gators, and Mangroves Entangled in the Everglades
"In this compelling book, Marcos Mendoza captures the ambivalent allure both of the imposing Patagonian landscape and of the ecotourism economy nurtured within it by the progressively populist Kirchners. Evocatively written and elegantly argued, The Patagonian Sublime will be of interest to scholars and students in diverse fields including anthropology, geography and political ecology as well as environmental, development and Latin American studies."
— Robert Fletcher, author of Romancing the Wild: Cultural Dimensions of Ecotourism
"A rewarding and generous book....Its writing style captures different levels of complexity, and the book will therefore be useful for teaching on both undergraduate and graduate courses of anthropology, geography, political ecology and environmental sciences. It is also a pleasure to read if one simply wants to read a good book."
— Journal of Latin American Studies
The Patagonian Sublime provides a vivid, accessible, and cutting-edge investigation of the green economy and New Left politics in Argentina. Based on extensive field research in Glaciers National Park and the mountain village of El Chaltén, Marcos Mendoza deftly examines the diverse social worlds of alpine mountaineers, adventure trekkers, tourism entrepreneurs, seasonal laborers, park rangers, land managers, scientists, and others involved in the green economy.
Mendoza explores the fraught intersection of the green economy with the New Left politics of the Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner governments. Mendoza documents the strategies of capitalist development, national representation, and political rule embedded in the "green productivist" agenda pursued by Kirchner and Fernández. Mendoza shows how Andean Patagonian communities have responded to the challenges of community-based conservation, the fashioning of wilderness zones, and the drive to create place-based monopolies that allow ecotourism destinations to compete in the global consumer economy.
Contents
List of Acronyms
List of Spanish Terms
List of Images
Acknowledgements
Preface
Introduction
Part One: The Sphere of Tourism Consumption
1
Alpine-Style Mountaineering: Resolve and Death in the Andes
2
Adventure Trekking: Pursuing the Alpine Sublime
Part Two: The Sphere of Service Production
3
Comerciante Entrepreneurship: Investment Hazard and Ethical Laboring
4
Golondrina Laboring: Informality and Play
Part Three: The Sphere of the Conservation State
5
Community-Based Conservation: Land Managers and State-Civil Society Collaborations
6
Conservation Policing: Education and Environmental Impacts
Part Four: The Politics of the Green Economy
7
Defending Popular Sustainability in la Comuna
8
Kirchnerismo and the Politics of the Green Economy
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
About the Author
