Nature Performed: Environment, Culture and Performance

"For too long now, nature has been seen as the silent onlooker at the performance of the human. But other ways of looking at performance are possible, ways which do not assume that this is the case. Through a series of sparkling chapters, this collection is one of the first to argue for letting both 'human' and 'nature' act up, in the process challenging both these categories' right to exist. Great Stuff." - Nigel Thrift, University of Bristol

As interest grows in ideas of 'performance' and 'performativity' in the humanities and social sciences, these concepts can be extended and re-cast to inform human relations with nature. Nature Performed demonstrates how the many-dimensional prism of performance can generate new understanding of nature-human relations.

Using case-studies drawn from a wide-ranging set of real-world contexts, the chapters explore issues such as:

• how concepts of performance can be used to interrogate the character of nature-human relationships


• the experience of the environment as the 'lived space' of everyday life


• the centrality of iteration, re-presentation and improvisation in socio-environmental processes


• how performative action enacts, alters and creates perceptions of nature-human relations


• the importance of process and embodiment in environmental knowledge, value and practices

The collection will be of interest to academics, researchers and students in a range of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, geography, theatre studies and the life sciences.