Roderick P. Neumann

I probably read the book for very different reasons than others have. I wanted something that I could read that was interesting, would help me unwind after doing my own research (on completely different issues), and would allow me to get an outside look on my own research. More importantly, I was looking for an academic book that told a good story. The book is exactly what it is advertised to be. It represents human geography, and more specifically political ecology, at its best. It demonstrates the struggles of the Meru people in Tanzania over issues of livelihood against the problem of the state-imposed land enclosures that are public parks.

What I also liked about the book is its eclecticism. I've never been a particularly big fan of mono-causal theorizing. I've always thought of the world and especially the political world as big, messy, and complex. This book does what political ecology does at its best, it acknowledges the complexity of the world while still managing to create a coherent picture of it. Wilderness is indeed imposed through public parks, but never in a way that is absolute or indisputable. Because I was reading the book for pleasure, perhaps what I liked best were the reflections of the author's personal conversations with the people of Meru during his field research.

Though thoroughly academic (with all the caveats that implies) the book is also one with a very human (and humanist) face to it.… (meer)