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Library | Item Barcode | Call Number | Material Type | Item Category 1 | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Searching... | 30000010277588 | GF41 C38 2009 | Open Access Book | Book | Searching... |
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Summary
Summary
Today human ecology has split into many different sub-disciplines such as historical ecology, political ecology or the New Ecological Anthropology. The latter in particular has criticised the predominance of the Western view on different ecosystems, arguing that culture-specific world views and human-environment interactions have been largely neglected. However, these different perspectives only tackle specific facets of a local and global hyper-complex reality. In bringing together a variety of views and theoretical approaches , these especially commissioned essays prove that an interdisciplinary collaboration and understanding of the extreme complexity of the human-environment interface(s) is possible.
Author Notes
Michael J. Casimir is Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Cologne. He has conducted prolonged fieldwork on the ecology, economy, environmental management and nutritional and socialisation patterns among pastoral nomads in west Afghanistan and Kashmir. Together with Aparna Rao he was chairperson of the Commission on Nomadic Peoples of the International Union of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences (1995-1998), and was until 2004 one of the editors of Nomadic Peoples (Berghahn), the official journal of the Commission. His major publications include Flocks and Food. A Biocultural Approach to the Study of Pastoral Foodways (1991); Mobility and Territoriality (ed. 1992); Nomadism in South Asia (ed. 2003).
Reviews 1
Choice Review
This remarkable anthology of 13 essays is a cross-cultural study on ecological anthropology, which examines the cultural construction of nature, human evaluation of environmental risks, and human action to mitigate such risks. The anthology persuasively critiques the privileging of Western rationality over culture-specific perspectives of environmental change. Despite the privileged Western rationality model, the volume editor argues, every extraordinary environmental event--earthquake, volcano, flood, eclipse--is perceived as omen or warning, and a variety of cultural practices are set in motion as a result. In many societies, including Western ones, the ultimate "irrational" causes are found beneath the superficial "rational" explanations of environmental events. Historical and contemporary explanations of the biblical deluge, the Egyptian plagues, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra, Haley's Comet, and the Asian tsunami defy "rationality." The volume's message is that culture-specific perspectives on the environment cannot be ignored. The anthology stands alone for the geographical sweep of its contributions--from Europe, Asia, and Africa--and its disciplinary eclecticism, which draws deeply on anthropology, geography, psychology, ethnography, ethnology, and sociology. Summing Up: Essential. Undergraduate/graduate collections in anthropology, geography, environmental studies; highly recommended. Cultural studies. T. Niazi University of Wisconsin
