Mark Whitehead

Gebundenes Buch

State, Science and the Skies

Governmentalities of the British Atmosphere

Beschreibung

Utilizing environmental archival materials from the UK, State, Science and the Skies presents a groundbreaking historical account of the development of a state science of atmospheric pollution. * Offers the most extensive historical and geographical account of atmospheric government and pollution in Britain, available today * Presents archival material from 150 years of British history that represents an original contribution to our knowledge of the history of science and government * Develops an innovative combination of Foucauldian history of government with a history of atmospheric science * Raises crucial questions about the nature of state/science relations and the conditions under which environmental knowledge is produced

Autor

Mark Whitehead is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at the Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University; and Senior Research Fellow at the City Institute, York University, Toronto. His published works include Spaces of Sustainability: Geographical Perspectives on the Sustainable Society (2006); and The Nature of the State: Excavating the Political Ecologies of the Modern State (co-author, 2007).

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Wiley
• Seitenzahl: 296
• Erscheinungstermin: 28. September 2009
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 231mm x 160mm x 20mm
• Gewicht: 558g
• ISBN-13: 9781405191746
• ISBN-10: 1405191740
• Artikelnr.: 31706155

Rezensionen

"Mark Whitehead's 2009 book State, Science and theSkies constitutes a compelling and important contribution to theRGS-IBG Book Series . . . This fascinating book is part of anincreasing literature on a much neglected area of study: the roleand importance of the atmosphere in our lives (e.g. Jankovic, 2000;Latour, 2003; Strauss and Orlove, 2003; Kessel, 2006; Thornes,2008) . . . State, Science and the Skies should provide us with animportant guide to the geographies of the atmosphere. It isespecially helpful in order to cultivate some sense of relief toSloterdijk's (2009) emphasis on the air as a means ofadministering death through environmental means." (Geoform, 1 September 2012)State, Science and the Skies is a carefully researched

andpolitically important work. Creatively developing Foucault's workon governmentality, it shows the complex interrelations oftechnology, policy and practice. Taking the atmosphere as an objectof government, it insists on the essential vertical dimension ofthe geographies of the modern state.
-- Stuart Elden, Professor of Political Geography,Durham University

State, Science and the Skies is a superbly craftedsynthesis of the making of a modern climatological state. Whiteheadfollows the expert and the state in their creation of atmosphericgovernment and its aerial responsibilities. Blending a robusthistorical narrative with thought-provoking analyses of atmosphericlives of boiler attendants, employers, government inspectors andhousewives, Whitehead provides an important framework for thinkingabout the current concerns surrounding climate change and airpollution. State, Science and the Skies is bound to become amajor reference in all future discussions about the scientific andpolitical constructions of environmental life in modern Britain andbeyond.
-- Vladimir Jankovic, Lecturer, Centre for theHistory of Science, Technology and Medicine University ofManchester