Environmental Anthropology: A Historical Reader - Paperback

by Michael R. Dove (Editor), Carol Carpenter (Editor)

Environmental Anthropology: A Reader is a collection of historically significant readings, dating from early in the twentieth century up to the present, on the cross-cultural study of relations between people and their environment.

• Provides the historical perspective that is typically missing from recent work in environmental anthropology
• Includes an extensive intellectual history and commentary by the volume's editors
• Offers a unique perspective on current interest in cross-cultural environmental relations
• Divided into five thematic sections: (1) the nature/culture divide; (2) relationship between environment and social organization; (3) methodological debates and innovations; (4) politics and practice; and (5) epistemological issues of environmental anthropology
• Organized into a series of paired papers, which 'speak' to each other, designed to encourage readers to make connections that they might not customarily make

Back Jacket

Environmental Anthropology: A Historical Reader is a collection of historically significant readings, dating from early in the twentieth century up to the present, on the cross-cultural study of relations between people and their environment. Like the focus of many environmental movements, much recent work in ecological anthropology has been crisis-driven, with a focus on the here and now. Often missing from this work is a wider perspective-including the context in which the research itself is being done. Current work on the human dimensions of deforestation or global climate change, for example, can be informed and strengthened by an understanding of the century-old intellectual lineage of the underlying issues.

Divided into five thematic sections, this collection provides rare insight into the evolution of environmental anthropology specifically and environmental studies more generally. These selections, along with extensive commentary by the volume's editors, offer a unique perspective on current interest in cross-cultural environmental relations.

Author Biography

Michael R. Dove is Margaret K. Musser Professor of Social Ecology, Professor of Anthropology, Curator of Anthropology at the Peabody Museum, and Coordinator of the joint doctoral program in anthropology and environmental studies, Yale University. He is the author of numerous books and papers on the anthropology of conservation and development. His most recent book is Conserving Nature in Culture: Case Studies from Southeast Asia (co-edited with P. Sajise and A. Doolittle, 2005).

Carol Carpenter is Senior Lecturer in Social Ecology and Anthropology, Yale University. Her teaching and research focus on theories of social ecology; social aspects of sustainable development and conservation; and gender in agrarian and ecological systems.