Frontier Thinking and Human-Nature Relations - We Were Never Western

This book builds a compelling critique of 'frontier thinking' and demonstrates its pernicious amplification in contemporary human affairs. It will be of wide interest to a range of academics and students in the fields of geography, anthropology, environmental studies, sociology, political science and development studies, amongst others.

List of contents

1. Frontier thinking 2. Understanding the role of history in the present 3. Frontier thinking: Why is a distinction drawn between close-to-nature 'communities' and 'modern civilised' societies or states? 4. The role of frontier thinking in the development of the American state and society 5. The following through of frontier myth by Turner and the wilderness movement in the US 6. Differences in the historical construction of development in Fennoscandian contexts 7. Consequences of frontier thinking - from state to individual levels 8. Consequences of frontier thinking on conceptions of the rural - historically and in present day 9. Alternative conceptions of rurality in present-day Fennoscandia 10. Conclusion: What is the social, and what do we base our policies on?

About the author

E. C. H. Keskitalo is Professor of Political Science at the Department of Geography, Umeå University. She has published widely on Arctic regional development and environmental and natural resource policy.

Product details

• Authors: E. C. H. Keskitalo, E. C. H. (Umea University Keskitalo
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 28.11.2025
• EAN: 9781032738420
• ISBN: 978-1-0-3273842-0
• No. of pages: 170
• Series: Routledge Explorations in Environmental Studies
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Biology > Ecology; Non-fiction book > Politics, society, business > Politics; SOCIAL SCIENCE / Human Geography, NATURE / Ecology, Politics & government, Northern Europe, Scandinavia, Politics and government, Environmental policy & protocols, Human Geography, Development Studies, Regional Geography, Industrialisation & Industrial History, Environmental policy and protocols, Industrialisation and industrial history