Life, Earth, Colony: Friedrich Ratzel's Necropolitical Geography

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.

Author: Ian Klinke
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 08/23/2023
Pages: 342
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.02lbs
Size: 9.02h x 6.13w x 0.56d
ISBN13: 9780472056170
ISBN10: 0472056174
BISAC Categories:
- History | Europe | Germany
- Political Science | History & Theory | General
- Social Science | Human Geography