ABSTRACT
Environmentalism - as a set of discourses and practices, ideologies, and movements - is inherently biopolitical. It is concerned with the politics of life: with species and ecosystems, the flourishing of humans and/or non-humans, and the various threats to life from 'nature' or 'society'. This chapter concerns the biopolitical aspects of African environmentalism. Environmental practices have been particularly significant in shaping African bodies, populations, and citizens. It states that a biopolitical perspective can help show how awareness, education, and political will have already been mobilised toward certain forms of environmental governance and activism by African states and societies, but not always in particularly progressive or inclusive ways. The chapter explores how a number of 'bad' or problematic subjectivities have been created by dominant environmental discourses - such as the destructive peasant, the urban masses, and the foreign body - alongside the creation of a number of 'good' or desirable subjectivities: the educated farmer, the green consumer, and the environmental citizen.
