Cultures of Habitat: On Nature, Culture, and Story

by Gary Paul Nabhan

A collection of essays explores the impact of indigenous cultures with stable communities on the conservation of biological diversity in natural habitats. Ethnobotanist Gary Paul Nabhan provides 26 essays that go beyond mere observations of wildlife but offer theories of links between cultural and biological diversity. He champions a shift away from the preservation efforts of the mainstream environmental movement, rejecting the separateness of ecological preserves that exclude humans. Nabhan argues that biodviersity thrives best in the presence of an involved, participatory culture, and his argument is bolstered by research and years of field experiecne.

Genres: Nonfiction, Environment, Native American, Anthropology, History, Nature, Essays

348 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

About the author

Gary Paul Nabhan is an internationally-celebrated nature writer, seed saver, conservation biologist and sustainable agriculture activist who has been called "the father of the local food movement" by Utne Reader, Mother Earth News, Carleton College and Unity College. Gary is also an orchard-keeper, wild forager and Ecumenical Franciscan brother in his hometown of Patagonia, Arizona near the Mexican border. For his writing and collaborative conservation work, he has been honored with a MacArthur "genius" award, a Southwest Book Award, the John Burroughs Medal for nature writing, the Vavilov Medal, and lifetime achievement awards from the Quivira Coalition and Society for Ethnobiology.

--from the author's website

Reviews

[Tinea · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would love to have given this book 4 stars, because the thesis of this quiet series of essays is so powerful. Ecological diversity evolved with, and needs to survive, cultural diversity, and vice versa. Nabhan patiently connects the networks of ecology, the relationships between plants and animals in the deserts of North and Central America, with the languages, stories, and histories of indigenous cultures there.

This message was conveyed best in the essay I used in the Environmental Justice course I taught at Oberlin: "Let Us Now Praise Native Crops." "Where Creatures and Cultures Know No Boundaries" talks about the harm that the US/Mexican border has had on nomadic indigenous peoples who used to cross it regularly, and the plant and animal species that are also prevented from moving freely in the landscape. In "Growing Up Othered: An Arab-American Childhood," Nabhan confronts the racism of mainstream US culture, and also the racism and romanticism often found in ethnobiology, setting the stage for the rest of his essays which treat Native people with respect due colleagues, mentors, and friends (a respect all to often absent from some ethnobiological accounts).

Unfortunately, this book reads sooooo slow! It took me months to get through it. This book is absolutely worthwhile, and contains crucial theory within the stories that uses ecology as a frame to understand the human world. But Nabhan buries a lot of his most poignant thoughts amidst lists of botanical names and wandering descriptions, dipping into some of the worst habits of nature writers everywhere. I wish, in the moments Nabhan is unable to convey the beauty and awe for the natural world in words, he would take a tip from Edward Abbey and not try. Say what you mean, don't try to say what you can't.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gary Paul Nabhan seems like a wonderful person that I’d love to just be around and learn from. I really enjoyed most of the essays from this book. I am reading Garden in the Dunes by Leslie Marmon Silko and there was some interesting overlaps with that book when he talks about the pack rat middens being a good source of mesquite beans. I’m pretty fascinated by the indigenous people of the southwest and how they have been able to survive and thrive in such a delicate ecosystem.

I was surprised to see that he spends time in Australia. I am interested to read more of his work and learn more about his organization Native Seeds/SEARCH

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book that changed my perspective on the value of indigenous cultures. Who thought that connection to land was so vital and that life can be so beautifully integrated into Place-- that the food you eat, words you use, and your rituals can be so intimately connected with the land. Beautiful book. Re-storying land and ourselves...

[Lyra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nabhan is my favorite nature writer. Many of his books are focused around native food and agriculture. This one is more broadly about the intersection of culture and nature, and is perhaps his most thought provoking book.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

The idea of cultures, primarily less industrial ones, adapting to the habitats they develop in, seems obvious, but Nabhan really presents it in an intelligent way, and shows how environmental destruction harms native cultures as surely as it wrecks non-human species.

[Stacy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing insights on the relationship between "nature" and people. Great ethnobotany. Nabhan is a great story teller.

[Sue]

Still reading between many books. Wonderful insights and connections concerning food and culture especially in the Southwest and indigenous cultures.