CONTENTS
Foreword xi
Acknowledgments xvii
1.Commons Ecology 1
Overview 2
Commons, Sustainability, and Environmental History 3
What Is the Commons? 4
Contested Commons 10
The Tragedy of the Commons 18
Commons as a Solution 20
Commons History: England, Mongolia, and India 23
Successful Commons 32
Ecologically Failed Commons 37
2.Culture in Common? 43
Commons as an Economic Solution 47
Culture as a Means of Conservation 52
Culture versus Economics 56
The Gift Economy 59
Contested Cultures 62
Misreading the Cultural Commons 67
3.Commons in Conflict 71
The Assault on the Commons 73
Enclosure and Colonization 79
Ecological Imperialism 84
The Radical Case for the Commons 86
Conflicted Commons 90 Commons, Conflict, and Gender 96
Continuing Commons 98
4.Questions for Good Ancestors 101
How Do We Research the Commons? 105
How Can the Commons Sustain the Environment? 110
How Do We Socially Share? 114
How Do We Fight the Crab ? 119
How Do We Love the Land? 126
Before Time People 129
Notes 137
Selected Readings on the Commons 155
Index 157