Maroš Krivý, “‘Post-apocalyptic wasteland’ or ‘Digital ecosystem’? Postsocialist ecological imaginaries in Tallinn, Estonia,” Geoforum 26 (2021): 233–243.
This article develops the concept of ecological imaginary to analyse collectively held beliefs, conceptions and metaphors around nature, and how they express notions of “good” and “bad” socio-ecological ordering. Through vignettes from Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, a Baltic former Soviet republic, it critically examines the ideological work ecological imaginaries do to delegitimize socialism. Empirically I offer evidence on how local elites use the imaginaries of ecosystems and wastelands to “other” the Soviet-socialist past, and to justify a peculiar mix of neoliberal, pro-nationalistic and technoutopian policies. The article makes two contributions to the underexplored space between political ecology and postsocialist theory. First, the ecological imaginaries framework opens up possibilities for advancing a critical political ecology perspective beyond the realm of ostensibly environmental and environmentalist practices, and across a wider range of phenomena such as ecological nationalism, green gentrification and digital natures. Second, by drawing out the ways in which imaginaries allow elites and other social actors to neutralize socialist options in the present, I contribute to a rethinking of the concept of postsocialism by refocusing it on the ideological work of the notion that socialism belongs to the past.
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This article develops the concept of ecological imaginary to analyse collectively held beliefs, conceptions and metaphors around nature, and how they express notions of “good” and “bad” socio-ecological ordering. Through vignettes from Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, a Baltic former Soviet republic, it critically examines the ideological work ecological imaginaries do to delegitimize socialism. Empirically I offer evidence on how local elites use the imaginaries of ecosystems and wastelands to “other” the Soviet-socialist past, and to justify a peculiar mix of neoliberal, pro-nationalistic and technoutopian policies. The article makes two contributions to the underexplored space between political ecology and postsocialist theory. First, the ecological imaginaries framework opens up possibilities for advancing a critical political ecology perspective beyond the realm of ostensibly environmental and environmentalist practices, and across a wider range of phenomena such as ecological nationalism, green gentrification and digital natures. Second, by drawing out the ways in which imaginaries allow elites and other social actors to neutralize socialist options in the present, I contribute to a rethinking of the concept of postsocialism by refocusing it on the ideological work of the notion that socialism belongs to the past.
Continue to the article...
