An exploration of the concept of cultivation, as conducted on both the land and the body, which expands our understanding of it as practice, aesthetic, and ideology
In this book, Jeffrey Hoelle traces the imprint of cultivation across the naturally growing covers of the land and body-plants and hair. The book builds from research in the agricultural fields and cattle pastures at the edge of the Amazon rainforest to domestic landscapes and hair salons and shops in the frontier cities of Brazil and beyond. In spaces where the tangled forest once stood, clean pastures and ordered rows of crops now sit on properties with geometric edges. From rural spaces to immaculate lawns and cemeteries in the city, the imprint leads to the body, where hair, like plant growth, is cut, trimmed, and otherwise managed. Seemingly separate domains of agriculture, landscaping, and personal grooming are governed by a similar aesthetic of control.
This unique pairing of land and body expands our understanding of cultivation as a practice and as an ideology that operates in frontier Amazonia-but also closer to home, influencing how we conceptualize and interpret the covers that grow on and around us, and our imagined relations with nature in the future. Hoelle argues that we must understand this system of thought and the overlooked role it plays in environmental destruction and social inequality.
| ISBN: | 9780300272857 |
| Publication date: | 28th July 2026 |
| Author: | Jeffrey Hoelle |
| Publisher: | Yale University Press |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 296 pages |
| Series: | Yale Agrarian Studies Series |
| Genres: |
Cultural studies: food and society Rural communities Applied ecology |
An exploration of the concept of cultivation, as conducted on both the land and the body, which expands our understanding of it as practice, aesthetic, and ideology
In this book, Jeffrey Hoelle traces the imprint of cultivation across the naturally growing covers of the land and body-plants and hair. The book builds from research in the agricultural fields and cattle pastures at the edge of the Amazon rainforest to domestic landscapes and hair salons and shops in the frontier cities of Brazil and beyond. In spaces where the tangled forest once stood, clean pastures and ordered rows of crops now sit on properties with geometric edges. From rural spaces to immaculate lawns and cemeteries in the city, the imprint leads to the body, where hair, like plant growth, is cut, trimmed, and otherwise managed. Seemingly separate domains of agriculture, landscaping, and personal grooming are governed by a similar aesthetic of control.
This unique pairing of land and body expands our understanding of cultivation as a practice and as an ideology that operates in frontier Amazonia-but also closer to home, influencing how we conceptualize and interpret the covers that grow on and around us, and our imagined relations with nature in the future. Hoelle argues that we must understand this system of thought and the overlooked role it plays in environmental destruction and social inequality.
Cultivated features in the following genres: Cultural studies: food and society, Rural communities, Applied ecology
Cultivated is available in Paperback, Hardback
Cultivated was written by Jeffrey Hoelle and published by Yale University Press
Cultivated has 296 pages
Yes it is part of Yale Agrarian Studies Series series
£22.50