Steps to an antiessentialist political ecology

This paper presents the outline of an anthropological political ecology tha t fully acknowledges the constructedness of nature while suggesting steps t o weave together the cultural and the biological on constructivist grounds. From tropical rain forests to advanced biotechnology laboratories, the res ources for inventing natures and cultures are unevenly distributed. The pap er proposes an antiessentialist framework for investigating the manifold fo rms that the natural takes in today's world. This proposal builds on curren t trends in ecological anthropology, political ecology, and social and cult ural studies of science and technology. The resulting framework identifies and conceptualizes three distinct but interrelated nature regimes-organic, capitalist, and techno-and sketches their characteristics, their articulati ons, and their contradictions. The political implications of the analysis a re discussed in terms of the strategies of hybrid natures that most social groups seem to be faced with as they encounter, and try to stem, particular manifestations of the environmental crisis.