Nature - autonomous learning

xivacknowledgementsothers had done far better than I could ever do. But then I recalled that I wasbeing asked to write not about nature in general but about how it’s beenunderstood in the discipline of geography – a discipline that, in its own specificways, has influenced (as well as been influenced by) wider understandingsof nature since its formal constitution as a research and teaching subjectin the late nineteenth century.This changed everything. While the writings of Williams, Soper,Habgood and others dissect the concept of nature with forensic precision,what they fail to do is anchor the concept in the various sites, situations andinstitutions where its meaning and referents are ‘fixed’ or contested. Ideasabout nature (and, indeed, about everything else in our world) do not existon the head of pin nor are they abstract entities that somehow ‘touch down’uniformly across time and space. Rather, they are produced by myriadknowledge-communities who possess sometimes similar (and sometimesdifferent) outlooks on nature. What we call ‘societal’ understandingsof nature are, in reality,‘local’ understandings that have leaked out from thesites of their production so that numerous people come to accept them asvalid. These sites include universities. Professional geographers are oneof the many knowledge-communities that have spent (and still spend) agreat deal of time producing and disseminating knowledge about nature.Yet no one has attended to the specific ways that geographers as a wholeunderstand nature. Instead, one typically encounters texts that offer onlypartial coverage – like my own co-edited Social Nature, a book that examineshow nature is understood by critical human geographers (Castree andBraun 2001).A book can only be written with the assistance of many friends, colleaguesand interlocutors. Nature could not have been conceived or completedwithout the help of Bruce Braun, David Demeritt and Ali Rogers. In differentways each of them have influenced the substance of this book and I continueto value their friendship greatly. Dave and Ali deserve special thanks forvolunteering to read the manuscript.Their detailed and wise commentsproved invaluable and Nature is a better book for them. Ali also suggestedthe title for Chapter 1, while Sarah Holloway’s careful editing saved me fromsome egregious errors. I must also thank, without implicating, the twoanonymous reviewers of my original book proposal. Their suggestionshave certainly helped to improve the content and structure. Likewise,Vinny Pattison (now a PhD student) made very constructive comments onthe first draft of the book. Here at Manchester, Clive Agnew, Mike Bradford,