Skip to:Content
|
Bottom
Cover image for The anthropology of climate change : an historical reader
Title:
The anthropology of climate change : an historical reader
Series:
Wiley Blackwell Anthologies in Social and Cultural Anthropology ; 18
Publication Information:
Chichester, West Sussex, U.K. ; Malden, M.A. : Wiley Blackwell, 2014
Physical Description:
xiii, 344 pages : illustrations, maps, graphs, tables ; 25 cm.
ISBN:
9781118383551

9781118383001
Abstract:
The contemporary field of research and policy on climate change is dominated by a presentist bias, which ignores insights from millennia of scholarly attention to the relationship between climate and society. This volume seeks to redress this bias by reprinting studies of the anthropology of climate and climate change from early 20th-century to early 21st-century Anthropology, including some classical works that have influenced anthropological thinking about climate. These studies reflect the unique contribution that Anthropology can make to the field of climate change, through study of (1) historic and prehistoric records of human impact from and response to prior periods of climate perturbation and change, (2) the impact from and response to climate change at the local, community level, (3) the impact on global debates about climate change from North-South post-colonial histories, and (4) the social dimensions of climate change science. Covers the historic and prehistoric records of human impact from and response to prior periods of climate change, including the impact and response to climate change at the local level; Discusses the impact on global debates about climate change from North-South post-colonial histories and the social dimensions of the science of climate change. Includes coverage of topics such as environmental determinism, climatic events as social catalysts, climatic disasters and societal collapse, and ethno-meteorology. Available as an e-text and on CourseSmart. An ideal text for courses in climate change, human/cultural ecology, environmental anthropology and archaeology, disaster studies, environmental sciences, science and technology studies, history of science, and conservation and development studies.--source other than Library of Congress
Added Author:

Available:*

Library
Item Barcode
Call Number
Material Type
Item Category 1
Status
Searching...
30000010334035 QC903 A58 2014 Open Access Book Book
Searching...

On Order

Summary

Summary

This timely anthology brings together for the first time the most important ancient, medieval, Enlightenment, and modern scholarship for a complete anthropological evaluation of the relationship between culture and climate change.

Brings together for the first time the most important classical works and contemporary scholarship for a complete historical anthropological evaluation of the relationship between culture and climate change Covers the historic and prehistoric records of human impact from and response to prior periods of climate change, including the impact and response to climate change at the local level Discusses the impact on global debates about climate change from North-South post-colonial histories and the social dimensions of the science of climate change. Includes coverage of topics such as environmental determinism, climatic events as social catalysts, climatic disasters and societal collapse, and ethno-meteorology An ideal text for courses in climate change, human/cultural ecology, environmental anthropology and archaeology, disaster studies, environmental sciences, science and technology studies, history of science, and conservation and development studies


Author Notes

Michael R. Dove is the Margaret K. Musser Professor of Social Ecology in the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Professor in the Department of Anthropology Director of the Tropical Resources Institute, and Curator of Anthropology at the Peabody Museum, Yale University, USA.


Table of Contents

Michael R. DoveCharles de Secondat MontesquieuFrancis ZimmermannVladimir JankovicFriedrich RatzelBetty J. MeggersThomas H. McGovernHarvey Weiss and Raymond BradleyJames SpilliusJacqueline S. SolwayElizabeth ColsonRichard L. BurgerNancy Scheper-HughesRosalind ShawDavid M. SchneiderMark CareyJulie CruikshankTodd SandersMyanna LahsenKenneth Broad and Ben Orlove
Acknowledgments to Sourcesp. viii
About the Editorp. x
Prefacep. xi
Acknowledgmentsp. xiv
Introduction: The Anthropology of Climate Change Six Millennia of Study of the Relationship between Climate and Societyp. 1
Part I Continuitiesp. 37
Climate Theory
1 Airs, Waters, Places Hippocratesp. 41
2 On the Laws in Their Relation to the Nature of the Climatep. 47
Beyond the Greco-Roman Tradition
3 The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to HistoryIbn Khaldûn
4 The Jungle and the Aroma of Meats: An Ecological Theme in Hindu Medicinep. 67
Ethno-climatology
5 Concerning Weather Signs Theophrastusp. 83
6 Gruff Boreas, Deadly Calms: A Medical Perspective on Winds and the Victoriansp. 87
Part IISo cietal and Environmental Changep. 103
Environmental Determinism
7 Nature, Rise, and Spread of Civilizationp. 107
8 Environment and Culture in the Amazon Basin: An Appraisal of the Theory of Environmental Determinismp. 115
Climate Change and Societal Collapse
9 Management for Extinction in Norse Greenlandp. 131
10 What Drives Societal Collapse?p. 151
Climatic Events as Social Crucibles
11 Natural Disaster and Political Crisis in a Polynesian Society: An Exploration of Operational Researchp. 157
12 Drought as a "Revelatory Crisis": An Exploration of Shifting Entitlements and Hierarchies in the Kalahari, Botswanap. 168
Part III Vulnerability and Controlp. 187
Culture and Control of Climate
13 Ram-Shrines of the Plateau Tonga of Northern Rhodesiap. 191
14 El Niño, Early Peruvian Civilization, and Human Agency: Some Thoughts from the Lurin Valleyp. 201
Climatic Disasters and Social Marginalization
15 Katrina: The Disaster and its Doublesp. 217
16 "Nature", "Culture" and Disasters: Floods and Gender in Bangladeshp. 223
Part IV Knowledge and its Circulationp. 235
Emic Views of Climatic Perturbation/Disaster
17 Typhoons on Yapp. 239
18 The Politics of Place: Inhabiting and Defending Glacier Hazard Zones in Peru's Cordillera Blancap. 247
Co-production of Knowledge in Climatic and Social Histories
19 Melting Glaciers and Emerging Histories in the Saint Elias Mountainsp. 261
20 The Making and Unmaking of Rains and Reignsp. 276
"Friction" in the Global Circulation of Climate Knowledge
21 Transnational Locals: Brazilian Experiences of the Climate Regimep. 301
22 Channeling Globality: The 1997-98 El Nino Climate Event in Perup. 315
Indexp. 335
Go to:Top of Page