Citation: Droz, L., F. Fricke, M., Heroor, N., Jannel, R., Komatsubara, O., Lagasca-Hiloma, C. M., Matangcas, P., Sihombing, H., 2024, “Environmental Philosophy in Asia: Between Eco-orientalism and Ecological Nationalisms”, Environmental Values, https://doi.org/10.1177/09632719241276999
Download the preprint at philpapers.
Abstract
Environmental philosophy–broadly conceived as using philosophical tools to develop ideas related to environmental issues–is conducted and practiced in highly diverse ways in different contexts and traditions in Asia. “Asian environmental philosophy” can be understood to include Asian traditions of thought as well as grassroots perspectives on environmental issues in Asia. Environmental issues have sensitive political facets tied to who has the legitimacy to decide about how natural resources are used. Because of this, the works, practices, and researchers in Asian environmental philosophy are exposed to being (mis)used by diverse stakeholders and actors to support political ends not related to environmental sustainability. Two processes are at play at the nexus of the construction of identities in relation to conceptualizations of nature: eco-orientalism and ecological nationalisms. This paper analyzes and exemplifies these dynamics through a conceptual framework that distinguishes ideological and socio-technical explanations of environmental degradation. Finally, to minimize the risks of political misuse, five pathways are presented to carefully help curate environmental, philosophical statements: contextualize, quantify uncertainty and “uniqueness,” downscale, confront claims with local realities and literature, and collaborate with researchers from other disciplines. Conjointly, these pathways aim at favoring intercultural collaboration while valuing diversity, thus supporting the development and exchanges in environmental philosophy in Asia and beyond.
Keywords: Environmental philosophy; Eco-orientalism; Orientalism; Exoticism; Ecological nationalism; Asian philosophy; Eco-dogmatism; Nationalism
A project by a NAEP team
This paper represents the output of a working group on the theme of ecological nationalisms that was born from this symposium. Participants interested in the theme were invited to join the working group. They participated in a series of online meetings, exchanges of sources and ideas, and worked on a common draft between and after meetings that took place on July 14th, 2022 (discussion of the scope and subject), January 23rd, 2023 (discussion of the conceptual framework) and February 16th, 2023 (discussion of the first draft and of the pathways), as well as a series of smaller online meetings throughout 2023 and 2024 to finalize and revise the manuscript.
At the beginning of 2022, a Call for Papers by the Network of Asian Environmental Philosophy was widely circulated online for abstracts for individual presentations, panels, and workshop proposals on the theme “Diversity of Environmental Philosophies in Asia.” The first Online Symposium of the Network of Asian Environmental Philosophy took place on June 17-18, 2022. More than 120 people registered to join the symposium (although not everyone joined the conversation), and about 20 scholars and activists presented their work related to more than 12 countries in Asia, from Japan to India. During these two days, we were confronted with the entanglement of cultural conceptions, religious beliefs, traditional practices, and representations of environmental degradation. Two workshops—on the meanings of “nature” and on nationalism in environmental philosophy in Asia—and several presentations gave us the opportunity to engage this issue. Discussions reflected that diverse interest groups propose divergent explanations and solutions to the environmental crisis and sometimes resort to rhetorical patterns that bind the identity of a specific group to a particular view of nature. Environmental philosophy risks getting caught up in the games of nationalism and being used to push religious or political agendas. In addition, “Asian” environmental philosophies are exposed to eco-orientalism and auto-orientalization tropes.
Figure 1: “We” in relation to Nature and Others. The two red arrows represent eco-orientalism; outward-looking dynamics that construct the identity of the “we” by comparison with an “Other” associated with exotic natural environments. The circle and arrow in yellow capture ecological nationalism and its dynamics largely contained within a group in relation to their environment (inward-looking).
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The published pdf in the Journal Environmental Values: https://doi.org/10.1177/09632719241276999
Download freely the preprint at philpapers.
Network of Asian Environmental Philosophy 