Introduction

Abstract

Although the question of nature has always been present in human culture, it is now more difficult to answer than ever. Nature and society are not two separate entities, but are deeply imbricated in each other due to the human colonization of the former. However, nature evolves too, influencing and constraining human beings and societies. In this regard, the complexity of the concept reflects a reality that has grown increasingly complicated over time. To approach it, neither material nor cultural explanations suffice in themselves—they have to be combined. This hybridization of the natural and the social is also reflected in other methodological issues: the rise of interdisciplinarity , the conflict between universality and particularism , the use of digital tools, the recognition of agencies other than human’s. A new notion that tries to summarize the current state of socionatural relations, central to this book, is the Anthropocene : the suggestion that human beings have become active forces of geological evolution. In turn, the extent of the human colonization of nature may suggest that the latter has ended.