Fixed categories in a portable landscape: the causes and consequences of land-cover categorization

In this paper I explore both the causes and the effects of defining land-co ver categories for the mapping of landscapes. Utilizing a participatory rem ote sensing technique in a case example from Rajasthan, India, I demonstrat e that local and expert characterizations of the environment are qualitativ ely and quantitatively divergent. Satellite imagery, I therefore conclude, is not an impartial tool for the settlement of debates about land cover but is instead the result of prior debates about the character of nature. More over, such imagery acts as a force in the transformation of the environment ; by fixing certain interpretations of the environment and forcing certain forms of management, technology changes on the land through a process of re verse adaptation. I conclude, therefore, that bureaucratic efforts at mecha nical objectivity serve to institutionalize and therefore create measurable , quantifiable, and aggressive land covers through the practice of ecologic al modernization.