Hegemony: a conceptual approximation to the study of power in political ecology

Abstract

This article presents a synthesis of the notion of hegemony and its possible contribution to the analysis of power in political ecology. The idea of hegemony, developed by Antonio Gramsci, allows us to rethink basic categories of common use in political ecology such as conflict, State, class, culture, materiality and ideology. Hegemony in Gramsci is equivalent to direction and consensus and must always be understood in its relationship with violence and coercion. This analytical approach offers us a formula to analyze power (hegemony/dictatorship) that explains both domination and emancipation and allows political ecology to overcome both the war model (the one that reduces power to coercion and conflict) as well as those that divide power between resistance and domination.