Presented to you through Paradigm Publishing Services
Duke University Press
Book
Licensed
Unlicensed
Requires Authentication
Making Peace with Nature
Ecological Encounters along the Korean DMZ
Language:
English
Published/Copyright:
2022
About this book
The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) has been off-limits to human habitation for nearly seventy years, and in that time, biodiverse forms of life have flourished in and around the DMZ as beneficiaries of an unresolved war. In Making Peace with Nature Eleana J. Kim shows how a closer examination of the DMZ in South Korea reveals that the area’s biodiversity is inseparable from scientific practices and geopolitical, capitalist, and ecological dynamics. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with ecologists, scientists, and local residents, Kim focuses on irrigation ponds, migratory bird flyways, and land mines in the South Korean DMZ area, demonstrating how human and nonhuman ecologies interact and transform in spaces defined by war and militarization. In so doing, Kim reframes peace away from a human-oriented political or economic peace and toward a more-than-human, biological peace. Such a peace recognizes the reality of war while pointing to potential forms of human and nonhuman relations.
Author / Editor information
Eleana J. Kim is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Adopted Territory: Transnational Korean Adoptees and the Politics of Belonging, also published by Duke University Press.
Reviews
"Making Peace with Nature is to be commended for its thoughtful attention to the competing priorities and placemaking of the DMZ region by both human and more-than-human actors. In decentring the human, Kim makes a critical intervention in discourses of peace that instrumentalise the DMZ for political or economic gain. Making Peace with Nature makes a valuable contribution across disciplines and may be of particular interest to scholars and students in Korean studies, Asian studies, cultural anthropology, political science, and the environmental humanities."
-- Ivanna Sang Een Yi Asian Studies Review
"Kim offers an opportunity to think of the ecological ramifications of the closed borders of the last few years. One particularly powerful chapter is her study of undetonated mines along the DMZ from the Korean War."
-- Adrian De Leon Public Books
"Kim’s astute theoretical work … is a refreshing approach to the puzzle of nonhuman agency."
-- Caterina Scaramelli American Ethnologist
"Eleana Kim’s book stands as a thought-provoking contribution to our understanding of the Korean DMZ. ... She presents a compelling case for the future sustainability of the Korean DMZ area and leaves an indelible mark on the discourse surrounding this historic landmark."
-- Chae-han Kim Pacific Affairs
“Making Peace with Nature is an exceptional book that deserves wide readership.”
-- Lisa M. Brady Journal of Anthropological Research
-- Lisa M. Brady Journal of Anthropological Research
"Making Peace with Nature is a highly innovative and exciting scholarly contribution to the growing body of research on environmental humanities."
-- Su-kyoung Hwang Journal of Military History
-- Su-kyoung Hwang Journal of Military History
"Making Peace with Nature offers an excellent anthropological analysis of the interaction between militarization, local residents, and wildlife in the DMZ. . . . Kim’s book provides deep insights beyond the DMZ region. It focuses on the academic activities related to the DMZ’s nature and demonstrates that nature helps certain groups of people build connections, overcoming the political division of the peninsula."
-- Horus Tan H-Environment, H-Net Reviews
-- Horus Tan H-Environment, H-Net Reviews
“Eleana J. Kim poignantly details the lasting impact of the Demilitarized Zone. . . . At a time of multiple ecological crises coupled with geopolitical conflicts, Making Peace with Nature warns us that we ignore our relational ontologies and symbiotic relationship with natureculture at our own peril.”
-- Suzy Kim Journal of Asian Studies
-- Suzy Kim Journal of Asian Studies
“A book that is both a pleasure to read and offers insights . . . Kim’s exploration of biological peace in Korea is well worth a read.”
-- Roland Bleiker Journal of Development Studies
Topics
-
Download PDFPublicly Available
Frontmatter
i -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Contents
vii -
Download PDFPublicly Available
List of Abbreviations
ix -
Download PDFPublicly Available
The South Korean DMZ Region
xi -
Download PDFPublicly Available
A Note about Romanization and Translation
xii -
Download PDFPublicly Available
Acknowledgments
xiii -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Introduction
1 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
IN THE MEANTIME OF DIVISION
30 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
PONDS
62 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
BIRDS
87 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
LANDMINES
119 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Epilogue De/militarized Ecologies
152 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Notes
159 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
References
177 -
Download PDFRequires Authentication UnlicensedLicensed
Index
191
Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
August 11, 2022
eBook ISBN:
9781478022961
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook ISBN:
9781478022961
Keywords for this book
2024 James B. Palais Prize Winner; AAS Book Award Winners; AAS Northeast Asia Council Book Awards
Audience(s) for this book
For an expert adult audience, including professional development and academic research
