In this paper we examine the process of river restoration at the river Cole in southern England. We argue that analysing such environmental transformations as actor-network translations or ‘nature-cultures’ can provide an integrative perspective on the process of restoration and its intertwining of natural and human actors and help to avoid the traps of defining ‘nature’ and separating it from society; traps which open up before environmental philosophy when examining restoration. However, a translation perspective is less helpful in evaluating or prescribing restoration as environmental management.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AdamsW M, 1996Future Nature (Earthscan, London)
2.
AkrichM, 1992, “The description of technical objects”, in Shaping Technology/Building Society Eds BijkerW E, LawJ (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) pp 205–224
3.
AkrichM, LatourB, 1992, “A summary of a convenient vocabulary for the semiotics of human and nonhuman assemblages”, in Shaping Technology/Building Society Eds BijkerW E, LawJ (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) pp 259–264
4.
BaldwinA DJr, de LuceJ, PletschC (Eds), 1994Beyond Preservation (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN)
5.
BennettJ, ChaloupkaW (Eds), 1993In the Nature of Things (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN)
6.
BinghamN, 1996, “Object-ions: from technological determinism towards geographies of relations” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space14635–657
7.
BradshawA D, 1987, “Restoration: an acid test for ecology”, in Restoration Ecology Eds JordanW R, GilpinM E, AberJ D (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge) pp 23 – 29
8.
BrookesA, SearD, 1996, “Geomorphological principles for restoring channels”, in River Channel Restoration Eds BrookesA, ShieldsF DJr (John Wiley, Chichester, Sussex) pp 75–101
9.
BrookesA, ShieldsF DJr, 1996, “Perspectives on river channel restoration”, in River Channel Restoration Eds BrookesA, ShieldsF DJr (John Wiley, Chichester, Sussex) pp 1–19
10.
CallonM, 1986, “Some elements of a sociology of translation: domestication of the scallops and the fishermen of St Brieuc Bay”, in Power, Action, Belief Ed. LawJ (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London) pp 196–233
11.
CallonM, 1991, “Techno-economic networks and irreversibility”, in A Sociology of Monsters Ed. LawJ (Routledge, London) pp 132–161
12.
CallonM, 1995, “Four models for the dynamics of science”, in Handbook of Science and Technology Studies Eds JasanoffS, MarkleG E, PetersenJ C, PinchT (Sage, London) pp 29–63
13.
CollinsH M, YearleyS, 1992, “Epistemological chicken”, in Science as Practice and Culture Ed. PickeringA (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL) pp 343–386
14.
CowellC M, 1993, “Ecological restoration and environmental ethics” Environmental Ethics1519 – 32
15.
CrononW, 1983Changes in the Land (Hill and Wang, New York)
16.
CrononW (Ed.), 1995Uncommon Ground (W W Norton, New York)
17.
DemerittD, 1994, “The nature of metaphors in cultural geography and environmental history” Progress in Human Geography18163–185
18.
ElliotR, 1982, “Faking nature” Inquiry2581–93
19.
ElliotR, 1997Faking Nature (Routledge, London)
20.
GandyM, 1996, “Crumbling land: the postmodernity debate and the analysis of environmental problems” Progress in Human Geography2023–40
21.
GunnA, 1991, “The restoration of species and natural environments” Environmental Ethics13291–310
22.
HarawayD, 1990, “A manifesto for cyborgs: science, technology, and socialist feminism in the 1980s”, in Feminism/Postmodernism Ed. NicholsonJ L (Routledge, London) pp 190 – 230
23.
HarawayD, 1992, “The promises of monsters: a regenerative politics for inappropriate/d others”, in Cultural Studies Eds GrossbergL, NelsonC, TreichlerP A (Routledge, London) pp 295 – 337
24.
HinchliffeS, 1996, “Technology, power, and space—the means and ends of geographies of technology” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space14659 – 682
25.
JarmanR, 1995, “Habitat restoration: recanting the status quo” Ecos1629 – 38
26.
JordanW RIII, 1985, “On the imitation of nature” Restoration and Management Notes32–3
27.
JordanW RIII, 1994, “Sunflower forest: ecological restoration as the basis for a new environmental paradigm”, in Beyond Preservation Eds BaldwinA DJr, J deLuce, PletschC (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN) pp 17–34
28.
JordanW RIII, GilpinM E, AberJ D (Eds), 1987Restoration Ecology (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)
29.
KatzE, 1992, “The ethical significance of human intervention in nature” Restoration and Management Notes990 – 96
30.
KatzE, 1996, “The problem of ecological restoration” Environmental Ethics18222–224
31.
LatourB, 1987Science in Action (Open University Press, Milton Keynes)
32.
LatourB, 1991, “Technology is society made durable”, in A Sociology of Monsters Ed. LawJ (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London) pp 101–131
33.
LatourB, 1992, “Where are the missing masses? The sociology of a few mundane artifacts”, in Shaping Technology/Building Society Eds BijkerW E, LawJ (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) pp 225–258
34.
LatourB, 1993We Have Never Been Modern (Harvester Wheatsheaf, Hemel Hempstead, Herts)
LatourB, 1996, “Social theory and the study of computerized work sites”, in Information Technology and Changes in Organizational Work Eds OrkilowskiW J, WalshamG, JonesM R, DeGrossJ I (Chapman and Hall, London) pp 295–307
37.
LawJ, 1986, “On the methods of long-distance control: vessels, navigation and the Portuguese route to India”, in A Sociology of Monsters Ed. LawJ (Routledge and Kegan Paul, London) pp 234–263
38.
LawJ, 1997, “Topology and the naming of complexity”, paper presented at the Actor-network and After conference, Keele University, Keele, July; published by Centre for Social Theory and Technology, Keele University, Keele; http.//wwwkeeleacuk/depts/stt/staff/jl/pubs-JL3htm
39.
LawJ, CallonM, 1992, “The life and death of an aircraft: a network analysis of technical change”, in Shaping Technology/Building Society Eds BijkerW E, LawJ (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA) pp 21–52
40.
LawJ, MolA, 1995, “Notes on materiality and sociality” Sociological Review43274–294
41.
LeeN, BrownS, 1994, “Otherness and the actor network” American Behavioural Scientist37772–790
42.
LukeT, 1997, “At the end of Nature: cyborgs, ‘humachines’, and environments in postmodernity” Environment and Planning A291367–1380
43.
McKibbenB, 1990The End of Nature (Routledge, London)
44.
MurdochJ, 1997a, “Inhuman/nonhuman/human: actor-network theory and the prospects for a nondualistic and symmetrical perspective on nature and society” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space15731 – 756
45.
MurdochJ, 1997b, “Towards a geography of heterogeneous associations” Progress in Human Geography21321–337
46.
PhillipsA, 1996, “The challenge of restoring Europe's nature and landscapes” International Planning Studies173–93
47.
ProctorJ D, PincetlS, 1996, “Nature and the production of endangered space: the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest and southern California” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space14683–708
48.
RodmanJ, 1993, “Restoring nature: natives and exotics”, in In the Nature of Things Eds BennettJ, ChaloupkaW (University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN) pp 139–153
49.
RRP, 1994Partnerships for River Restoration. Part One: Institutional Aspects of River Restoration in the UKRiver Restoration Project, Silsoe Campus, Silsoe, Beds, England
50.
SearD A, WhiteR A, 1994The River Restoration Project: A Geomorphological Survey of the River Cole, WiltshireRiver Restoration Project, Silsoe Campus, Silsoe, Beds, England
51.
ThriftN, 1996Spatial Formations (Sage, London)
52.
VidgenR, McMasterT, 1996, “Black boxes, non-human stakeholders and the translation of IT through mediation”, in Information Technology and Changes in Organizational Work Eds OrlikowskiW J, WalshamG, JonesM R, DeGrossJ I (Chapman and Hall, London) pp 250–271
53.
VivashR, BiggsJ, 1994Site Appraisal for River RestorationEnglish Nature, Northminster House, Peterborough, England
54.
WhatmoreS, 1997, “Dissecting the autonomous self: hybrid cartographies for a relational ethics” Environment and Planning D: Society and Space1537 – 53
55.
WinnerL, 1993, “On opening up the black box and finding it empty: social constructivism and the philosophy of technology” Science, Technology, and Human Values18362–378
