Forest and Labor in Madagascar

An important and lively contribution to the study of 'green neoliberalism.' An obvious choice for undergraduate teaching on ecology, rights, international political economy, development, and a host of other topics. -David Graeber, University of London Brings a whole new angle and nuance to the crucial debates over conservation and development. Applicable not just to lush, humid eastern Madagascar, but all around the globe. -Christian Kull, Monash University Genese Marie Sodikoff takes us deep into the underbelly of conservation in one of the world's biodiversity hot-spots. It is a world of timber barons, logging gangs, corrupt state functionaries, international conservation experts, worker-peasants, and poachers. She paints eastern Madagascar as a frontier of dispossession, exploitation, and violence. The plundering of the Mananara protected area is seen, in a brilliantly original way, from the subaltern vantage point of forest workers and conservation labor. Forest and Labor places present day conservation on the larger canvas of a century of forest-based social relations of labor that have entered into the making of what Sodikoff calls neoliberal conservation. It is a magnificently rich historical and ethnographic accounting of what passes as the making of global biosphere reserves. A tour de force. -Michael Watts, University of California, Berkeley Those interested in conservation, tropical rainforest ecology, international political economy, and sustainable development will find Forest and Labor in Madagascar an insightful case study. -Choice Forest and Labor in Madagascar is a pertinent and well-timed contribution to the growing literature on green neo-liberalism and its consequences at a time when the term 'salvage frontier' is becoming applicable to ever-greater swathes of this planet. -Journal of Modern African Studies [Sodikoff] takes her readers on a wonderful tour along the underbelly of conservation work in order to give them a clear understanding of how labour plays out in a political economy ruled mainly by conservation stakeholders. -Africa Clearly organized and wonderfully written, [this book] provides invaluable insights on how frontline conservation workers shape (or can't) and fit within (or don't) the convoluted workings of global conservation practice. -Intl Jrnl African Historical Studies Through rich and thick ethnographic description, Forest and Labor in Madagascar delivers what its title promises: providing the reader with a historically informed and detailed overview of the relations between forest conservation and labour dynamics on the Malagasy Island... [F]or those interested in a solid, rich, and detailed ethnography of socio-environmental change and those interested in the politics of nature and broader labour issues in Madagascar, this is an excellent read. -Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Forest and Labor in Madagascar is ethnographically rich, and anthropologists working in the developing South will recognize much that it covers. -American Anthropologist Forest and Labor in Madagascar... is a worthwhile contribution to [the] growing body of scholarship on the social ramifications of conservation efforts. -Anthropology of Work Review Throughout the book, it is clear that Sodikoff has both a great knowledge of and a deep respect for the people and the environments of Madagascar. The result is a humane and approachable ethnography that would connect with both undergraduate and graduate students. -american Ethnologist