ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book is set within the context of recent attempts within the social sciences to construct closely theorized and firmly grounded analyses of the interconnections between nature-society relations and place relation. It begins to articulate a particular form of hybrid geography which has the aim of exploring ways of recognising and accommodating the presence of non-humans in the worlds we inhabit. The book is concerned with the spaces of social life, relational configurations spun between the capacities and effects of organic beings, technological devices and discursive codes. It discusses particular trees and tree places, and deploys theoretical ideas about nature, place, agency and ethics. The book accesses tree discourses in various cultural locations which range through novels, poetry, and accounts of ancient spirituality to coverage of 'tree issues' in the press.
