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Through a theoretical and empirical consideration of gift exchange we argue in this paper that those with legal interests in land have constructed property relations around a claim of reciprocity with nature. This has been used to legitimate the ways in which they have deployed their property power to exclude others, thus seeking to retain their dominion over both humans and nonhumans. In so doing, however, people with such interests have failed to understand the dynamic of gift relationships, with their inherent inculcation of subject and other, to the point where the exercise of power becomes contingent on the continued hegemony of property relations. Using the politics of recreational access to inland waters in England and Wales, we show that power--over both humans and nonhumans--is temporary and conditional in ways that are not fully theorised in most contemporary debates about property rights and their deployment on nonhuman subjects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A consideration of occupation and space is outlined to advance nonrepresentational thinking about human-landscape relations. Empirical findings are presented from a research project based on data from the Mass Observation Archive relevant to gardens and gardening. These data are analysed to explore how 'ordinary' people (who have contributed to this Archive) express and experience issues concerning their home gardens. Our analysis suggests four distinct modes of occupation relevant to the ways in which these lay writers describe their garden and gardening experiences and activities. The naturalistic mode is occupied with the garden as expressive of 'nature'; the nostalgic mode is occupied with memory and self-reflection; the pragmatic mode concerns tasks/activities that constitute the routine practices of gardening; and the mimetic mode is occupied with the interpersonal dynamics and processes of human social activity. The analysis is situated in the theoretical context of some recent developments in nonrepresentational theory. We suggest that our approach and data are compatible with the process-orientation of nonrepresentational thinkers, and that-contrary to certain objectivist tendencies within nonrepresentational theorising-this approach does not need to neglect the importance of issues of subjectivity and experience, and the relevance of textual data. We aim to lend empirical substance to recent theoretical and philosophical discussions on space, and speculations about why the home garden appears to be so important to many people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we seek to engage with contemporary environmental debates concerning human--nature relations at the everyday level. Our focus is on the domestic or home garden, which we argue is a significant locale for understanding human--nature relations. Secondary empirical data illustrate the growth of gardening and its connections to changes in housing tenure, consumption patterns and the 'commodification of nature' by the garden industry. Primary empirical data on the meanings of home and garden (and gardening activities) are utilised to understand the relations between human agency and contemporary human--nature relations. The findings suggest that a variety of social and economic processes encourage utilitarian and consumerist orderings of nature in gardens. But the meanings of gardens are also structured by personal practices, often reflecting relationships with family and friends, that produce complex and personalised connections with nature that illustrate the ambiguity of human--nature relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]