Antonsich_native and alien_repository.pdf (279.62 kB)
Natives and aliens: who and what belongs in nature and in the nation?
The distinction between native and alien species is a main tenet of various natural
sciences, invasion biology in particular. However, it is also a contested one, as it does not reflect the
biological features of a species, but only its place of origin and migration history. The present article
offers a brief genealogy of the native/alien divide and argues that central to this binary is a national
thinking which divides the world into distinct (national) units, enclosed by (natural) borders, with a
unique (native) population attached to these spatial units. The article illustrates this argument by
looking at two interrelated processes: the nationalisation of nature, by which the national thinking
intervenes as an organising principle in determining ecological inclusion/exclusion, and the
naturalisation of the nation, through which the nation is given an ontological status. Taken together
these two processes confirm the continuing salience of the nation as a b-ordering principle actively
constituting both the social and natural world, also in times of anthropogenic changes and increasing
people’s mobility.
History
School
- Social Sciences and Humanities
Department
- Geography and Environment
Published in
AreaVolume
53Issue
2Pages
303-310Citation
Antonsich, M. (2020). Natives and aliens: who and what belongs in nature and in the nation? Area, 53(2), pp. 303-310.Publisher
WileyVersion
- AM (Accepted Manuscript)
Rights holder
© Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers)Publisher statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Antonsich, M. (2020). Natives and aliens: who and what belongs in nature and in the nation? Area, 53(2), pp. 303-310, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12679. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived VersionsAcceptance date
2020-10-14Publication date
2020-11-08Copyright date
2021ISSN
0004-0894eISSN
1475-4762Publisher version
Language
- en