Biomimicry: New Natures, New Enclosures

Goldstein, Jesse; Johnson, Elizabeth

doi:10.1177/0263276414551032

Biomimicry: New Natures, New Enclosures

Goldstein, Jesse; Johnson, Elizabeth

Authors

Jesse Goldstein

Dr Elizabeth Johnson elizabeth.johnson@durham.ac.uk
Honorary Fellow

Abstract

Advocates of biomimicry encourage a new industrial paradigm that ostensibly leaves behind the crude violence of Francis Bacon, the domination of nature-as-machine, and a history of toxic production processes that have given rise to a present and coming climate crisis. As part of a broader trend towards the conceptualization and development of a ‘bioeconomy’, we argue here that biomimicry produces ‘nature’ in new ways. At face value, these new approaches to valuing nature may seem less violent and exploitative. Yet, new natures can and are tortured in new ways. We argue that biomimicry produces ‘nature’ through well-worn logics of resource enclosure and privatization, focusing upon two fundamental shifts in how nonhuman life is figured and put to work: (1) the production of nature as intellectual property (as opposed to raw materials); (2) the production of nature as an active subject (as opposed to a passive receptacle or vehicle).

Citation

Goldstein, J., & Johnson, E. (2015). Biomimicry: New Natures, New Enclosures. Theory, Culture and Society, 32(1), 61-81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276414551032

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Nov 12, 2014
Publication Date	Jan 1, 2015
Deposit Date	Oct 9, 2017
Publicly Available Date	Oct 25, 2019
Journal	Theory, Culture and Society
Print ISSN	0263-2764
Electronic ISSN	1460-3616
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	32
Issue	1
Pages	61-81
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1177/0263276414551032

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Copyright Statement
Goldstein, Jesse & Johnson, Elizabeth (2015). Biomimicry: New Natures, New Enclosures. Theory, Culture & Society 32(1): 61-81. Copyright © 2015 The Author(s) DOI: 10.1177/0263276414551032