Environmental Anthropology (eBook)

Anthropology, Ecology and Environments: an Introduction8
Why Environmental Anthropology?8
What Does This Book Offer?10
Part I Roots13
1 Cultural Ecology14
Humans and Environments in Early 20th Century Anthropology14
What Is Cultural Ecology?15
Comparative Accounts of Foraging Societies. 19
The Emergence of Ancient Civilisations21
Cultural Ecology in Modern Complex Societies23
Alternative Roots of Environmental Anthropology24
2 Multiple Ecologies 29
From the 1960s: Multiplying Approaches29
Cultural Materialism29
Ecological Anthropology32
Symbolic and Linguistic Ecology37
Into the 1990s: The New Ecologies 38
Political Ecology38
Environmental History and Historical Ecology41
Research into Coupled Human-Environment Systems44
Local Knowledge .45
Part II Approaches51
3 Landscapes52
A Stroll through the Eifel52
Landscapes for Transdisciplinary Anthropology54
Natural and Cultural Landscapes54
A Very Short History of Landscape57
Temporal Landscapes59
Contested Landscapes62
4 Infrastructures.67
Of Fences, Waterholes and Wildlife Corridors 67
Infrastructure – Approaches, Definitions, Challenges68
Environmental Infrastructure73
Multispecies Infrastructure74
5 Anthropocenes79
The Anthropocene: Why, What and When?.79
Anthropological Engagements with the Anthropocene Concept84
Responsibility in a Patchy Anthropocene90
6 Ontologies95
Tirakuna95
Anthropology and Ontology96
Beyond the One-World World96
How Many Worlds Are There?101
Ontological Politics103
Part III Foci109
7 Water110
Water Wars?110
Water and Anthropology111
Social Waters112
Managing Waters117
Meaningful Waters120
8 Plants and Fungi128
Lawn Culture 128
Planthropology129
Knowing and Using Plants and Fungi129
The Politics of Travelling Plants132
Relating with and through Plants and Fungi135
Growing Plants and People139
9 Animals147
A Self-sacrificing Animal147
Animals as Sustenance148
Animals as Symbols and Knowledge154
The Animal Turn and Multispecies Anthropology158
Extinctions and Rewilding161
10 Bodies166
Kidney Failure or State Failure?166
Bodies in Their Environments167
Bodies Beyond the Skin167
An Embodied Anthropocene172
Local Biologies, or Becoming Human in Company178
Part IV Fields185
11 Climate Change186
Misunderstanding Rising Sea Levels186
The Perception of Weather188
The Influence of Scientific Narratives on Local Knowledge189
Explanations for a Changing Climate191
Making Rain192
Climate Change in Focal Regions of the Globe194
And What about Europe?198
12 Disasters204
An (Un)natural Disaster204
What Is a Disaster?205
Hazard, Vulnerability and Resilience205
Disaster Temporality209
Illusions of Certainty, Stability and Progress213
Knowledges and Beliefs216
13 Extractivism223
Cursed Resources?223
Anthropologies of Resource Extraction224
What Is Extractivism?224
Resisting Extractivism.227
Transforming Extraction230
Waste: Extractivism’s Conditions and Afterlives234
14 Conservation240
Lands Lost to Conservation240
What Is Conservation?241
A View of Global Conservation Efforts242
The Environmental History of Conservation243
Community-based Conservation246
Conservation and Changing Livelihoods248
Conservation and Socio-political Dynamics. 250
Ecological Effects253
Emergent Perspectives254
15 Environmentalisms261
Global Protest against a Hydropower Project261
What Is Environmentalism?262
The Historical Emergence of Western Environmentalism265
Non-Western Environmentalisms268
Indigenous Environmentalisms and Decolonisation277
Glossary282
Index287