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cover of episode Jason L. Newton, "Cutover Capitalism: The Industrialization of the Northern Forest" (West Virginia UP, 2024)

Jason L. Newton, "Cutover Capitalism: The Industrialization of the Northern Forest" (West Virginia UP, 2024)

2025/3/29
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Jason L. Newton
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Miranda Melcher
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Jason L. Newton: 我最初的研究方向是劳工历史，关注阿迪朗达克山脉伐木工人的生活和工会活动。然而，由于缺乏资料，我的研究方向逐渐转向了更广泛的经济和环境史，探索人们如何从森林中创造经济价值，以及这一过程如何随时间变化。我的研究还考察了资本主义在偏远农村地区的不同表现形式，以及农村地区工业化的过程，特别是北部森林地区的工业化。我关注的是在资源枯竭后，人们如何继续创造价值，以及工业化在农村地区与城市地区的不同之处。此外，我还研究了伐木工人的阶级形成过程，以及他们与自然环境之间的关系。 在研究过程中，我发现北部森林的工业化并非仅仅是技术进步的结果，而是通过强化劳动过程、延长工作时间和提高劳动强度来实现的。例如，伐木工人利用冰路和河流运输木材，提高了效率，但也增加了劳动强度。此外，我还研究了种族在北部森林工业化中的作用，特别是法国加拿大移民在伐木业中的作用，以及种族观念如何影响他们的工作和就业机会。 我的研究还涉及到土地所有制和资源管理的变化，以及这些变化如何导致伐木工人生活方式和工作方式的改变。从早期的自给自足的农民伐木工到完全依赖市场的专业伐木工人，这一转变是北部森林资本主义发展的重要组成部分。 最后，我探讨了关于北部森林伐木工人的神话和现实，以及这些神话如何延续至今。我童年时期在阿迪朗达克山脉的一个小镇上看到一座伐木工人雕像，这激发了我对伐木工人历史的研究兴趣，并让我思考了人们与自然之间通过工作建立的联系。 Miranda Melcher: 作为访谈者，我引导了与Jason L. Newton教授的讨论，主要围绕他的著作《砍伐资本主义：北部森林的工业化》展开。我提出了关于北部森林工业化进程中，伐木工人、树木、社区和企业所发生变化的问题，并探讨了从劳工历史、环境历史和资本主义新历史等多角度理解工业化的可能性。在访谈中，我引导教授阐述了其研究方法、研究问题、以及对北部森林环境、伐木工人阶级形成、种族与资本主义关系等方面的观点。此外，我还与教授探讨了其未来的研究计划。

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This chapter explores the evolution of industrialization in rural America, focusing on the transformation of logging practices in the Northern Forest. It examines the shift from a pre-capitalist system to a capitalist one, highlighting the changing roles of workers and the introduction of new technologies and methods.
  • The industrialization of the Northern Forest was unique, challenging traditional assumptions about the process.
  • The study moves beyond labor history to encompass environmental history and the new history of capitalism.
  • The formation of a lumberjack class is examined, considering its relationship to the environment and the economy.

Shownotes Transcript

What happened to the loggers of America’s past when lumbermen moved west and south in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries? How did these communities continue to create value and meaning in these marginal lands? Cutover Capitalism: The Industrialization of the Northern Forest) (West Virginia University Press, 2024) by Dr. Jason L. Newton provides a new perspective on the process of industrialization in America through the study of rural workers in a cutover landscape.

Back when resources started running scarce, the environment of the forest and bodies of workers became the natural resources from which mills and landowners extracted. Bodies and cutover landscapes were mobilized in new ways to increase the scale and efficiency of production—a brutal process for workers, human and animal alike. In the Northern Forest, an industrial working class formed in relation to the unique ways that workers' bodies were used to produce value and in relation to the seasonal cycles of the forest environment.

Cutover Capitalism is an innovative historical study that combines methodological approaches from labor history, environmental history, and the new history of capitalism. The book tells a character-driven yet theoretically sophisticated story about what it was like to live through this process of industrialization.

This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose* new book*)* focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda’s episodes on New Books with Miranda Melcher), wherever you get your podcasts.*

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