The Violent Technologies of Extraction: Political Ecology, Critical Agrarian Studies and the Capitalist Worldeater - Hardcover

by Alexander Dunlap (Author), Jostein Jakobsen (Author)

Offering a thought provoking theoretical conversation around ecological crisis and natural resource extraction, this book suggests that we are on a trajectory geared towards total extractivism guided by the mythological Worldeater. The authors discuss why and how we have come to live in this catastrophic predicament, rooting the present in an original perspective that animates the forces of global techno-capitalist development. They argue that the Worldeater helps us make sense of the insatiable forces that transform, convert and consume the world. The book combines this unique approach with detailed academic review of critical agrarian studies and political ecology, the militarization of nature and the conventional and 'green' extraction nexus. It seeks radical reflection on the role people play in the construction and perpetuation of these crises, and concludes with some suggestions on how to tackle them.

Back Jacket

A powerful provocation and challenge to our ways of thinking about extractivism, industrialism and so-called 'progress' - refreshing, depressing and inspiring. Highly recommendable.Andrea Brock, University of Sussex, UK
"The book is highly relevant and topical, and I think the general perspective is underrepresented in the literature. It thus fills a gap. It is a tour de force - and a great read. It will become a classic."Poul Wisborg, Norwegian University of Life Sciences, Norway
"This provocative book reveals the specter of total extractivism and what to do about it - a necessary intervention from the social sciences into the world at large." James Fairhead, University of Sussex, UK

Offering a thought provoking theoretical conversation around ecological crisis and natural resource extraction, this book suggests that we are on a trajectory geared towards total extractivism guided by the mythological Worldeater. The authors discuss why and how we have come to live in this catastrophic predicament, rooting the present in an original perspective that animates the forces of global techno-capitalist development. They argue that the Worldeater helps us make sense of the insatiable forces that transform, convert and consume the world. The book combines this unique approach with detailed academic review of critical agrarian studies and political ecology, the militarization of nature and the conventional and 'green' extraction nexus. It seeks radical reflection on the role of people in the construction and perpetuation of these crises, and concludes with some suggestions on how to tackle them.
Alexander Dunlap is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, Norway
Jostein Jakobsen is a doctoral candidate at the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, Norway

Author Biography

Alexander Dunlap is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, Norway. His work has critically examined police-military transformations, market-based conservation, wind energy development and extractive projects more generally in both Latin America and Europe.
Jostein Jakobsen is a doctoral research fellow at the Centre for Development and the Environment, University of Oslo, Norway. His research focuses on agrarian change in India, food regime analysis, meatification, and the Naxalite movement in India, set within broad interests in political ecology and critical agrarian studies.