Perceptions and control of assemblage in a ‘Glocal’ World

Abstract

Assemblage theory has pushed us in the right direction but it should ontologically better articulate the question of actor’s perception of environment and power in a global-local (‘glocal’) context of a capitalist and monetized world. This commentary attempts to articulate how to marry assemblage theory with new concepts arising from a combination of New Institutionalism and Political Ecology approaches, as used in ecological and economic anthropology. It refers to actors in contexts of power and how they are able to shape their economic and political contexts by understanding who has what kinds of options available to them to assemble institutional constellations. As an example, the commentary refers to cash generating needs in subsistence-oriented societies. It also introduces the idea of institution shopping of actors and the way they increase their bargaining power by using ideological contexts (discourses and narratives) in order to legitimize their actions for generating cash in a capitalist system. Studies on institutional changes related to the household level and the management of the commons are used as illustrations to discuss how an integrated and historical approach combining institutional and ecological elements lead to a New Institutional Political Ecology (NIPE).