Life, Earth, Colony: Friedrich Ratzel's Necropolitical Geography (Social History, Popular Culture, And Politics In Germany) - Softcover

Ian Klinke (author)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0472056174 ISBN 13: 9780472056170

Publisher: University of Michigan Press, 2023

Synopsis

Life, Earth, Colony explores the ideas, life, and historical significance of German zoologist turned geographer Friedrich Ratzel (1844–1904), famous for developing the foundations of geopolitical thought. Ratzel produced a remarkable body of work that revolutionized the study of space, movement, colonization, and war. He also served as a source of intellectual inspiration for national socialism, particularly through his Lebensraum (living space) concept, which understood all life as being caught in an eternal struggle for space. This book closely analyzes this radical conservative intellectual, focusing on his often-overlooked ethnography, biogeography, travel, and creative writing, and colonial activism as well as his more widely-known political geography. Life, Earth, Colony finds that there is an as yet unexplored necropolitical impulse at the heart of Ratzel’s entire oeuvre, a preoccupation with death and dying, which had a profound impact on twentieth-century history.

About this title

About the Author

Ian Klinke is Associate Professor in Human Geography at the University of Oxford.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Michigan Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0472056174
• ISBN 13: 9780472056170
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 384