political ecology & Other topics
My work examines the complex interactions between social movements, environmental politics, and resource governance in Andean South America. Of particular interest to me is the role of rural peoples’ organizations – regional indigenous federations, irrigators’ associations, grassroots environmental movements, agricultural and mining cooperatives – in mediating resource access and management, as well as national and transnational discourses of development, citizenship and the nation.
In Latin America as throughout the world, rural peoples’ organizations play a crucial role not only in accessing resources and markets – and therefore enhancing their members’ livelihood opportunities – but in advancing political and cultural claims, as well as refracting, resisting, and at times reproducing dominant narratives of development and modernization. A central focus of my work is the dialectical relationship between rural peoples, social movements and the institutional arrangements, discourses, and material practices involved in the governance of nature and natural resources.
I have also written about environmental governance and political ecology as concepts, academic fields and terrains of struggle. In this work, I have argued for a critical understanding of environmental governance and for a trans-hemispheric political ecology that transcends national, linguistic and geographical boundaries.
Publications
2015 Tom Perreault, Gavin Bridge and James McCarthy (eds.), The Handbook of Political Ecology, London: Routledge.
BOOK
2020 Francisco Astudillo Pizarro and Tom Perreault. “Medioambiente, agua y conocimiento en la coyuntura latinoamericana: La justicia social como matriz de los estudios socioambientales críticos,” Interview in A&P Continuidad, 7(12): 30-39.
2015 Tom Perreault, “Corrientes, colonialismos y contradicciones: Repensando los raíces y trayectorias de la ecología política,”Estudios Atacameños, 51: 177-183.
2008 Tom Perreault, “Geographical perspectives on Latin American social movements: a review and critique,” Geography Compass, 2(5): 1363-1385.
2005 Thomas Perreault and Patricia Martin, “Geographies of neoliberalism in Latin America,” Environment and Planning A, 37(2): 191-201.
1996 Thomas Perreault, “Nature preserves and community conflict: a case study in highland Ecuador,” Mountain Research and Development, 16(2): 167-175.
JOURNAL articles
2015 Gavin Bridge, James McCarthy and Tom Perreault, “Editors’ introduction.” In The Handbook of Political Ecology, Tom Perreault, Gavin Bridge and James McCarthy (eds.), London: Routledge, pp. 3-18.
2015 James McCarthy, Tom Perreault and Gavin Bridge, “Editors’ conclusion.” In The Handbook of Political Ecology, Tom Perreault, Gavin Bridge and James McCarthy (eds.), London: Routledge, pp. 620-629.
2014 Tom Perreault, “Prólogo.” In Ecología Política en Chile: Naturaleza, Conocimiento, Propiedad y Poder, Beatriz Bustos (ed.), Santiago: Universidad de Chile, pp. 9-14.
2010 Tom Perreault, “El capitalismo, la naturaleza y la identidad social: Una teorización incompleta.” In Justicia Hídrica: 7 Ensayos Como Aportes para Articular las Luchas, H. Vélez Galeano (ed.), Bogotá, Colombia: CENSAT Agua Vida, Amigos de la Tierra Colombia, pp. 67-79.
Reprinted as: Tom Perreault, “Las contradicciones estructurales y sus implicaciones para la justicia hídrica: Pensamientos incompletos,” in Justicia Hídrica: Acumulación, Conflicto y Acción Social, Rutgerd Boelens, Leontien Cremers and Margreet Zwarteveen (eds.), Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos/PUCP, pp. 67-77 (2011).
2009 Tom Perreault, “Environment and development,” in Companion to Environmental Geography. Noel Castree, David Demeritt, Diana Liverman and Bruce Rhoads (eds.), Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 442-460.
2009 Gavin Bridge and Tom Perreault, “Environmental governance,” in Companion to Environmental Geography. Noel Castree, David Demeritt, Diana Liverman and Bruce Rhoads (eds.), Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 475-497.
2004 Tom Perreault, “Michael Watts” In P. Hubbard, R. Kitchen, and G. Valentine (eds.), Key Contemporary Thinkers on Space and Place, London: Sage, pp. 323-329. (updated and revised as“Michael Watts” In P. Hubbard, R. Kitchen, and G. Valentine (eds.), Key Thinkers on Space and Place [Second Edition], London: Sage, pp. 454-460, 2010).