The Environment in Anthropology: A Reader in Ecology, Culture, and Sustainable Living

by Richard Wilk (series_editor), Nora Haenn (Editor)

The Environment in Anthropology presents ecology and current environmental studies from an anthropological point of view. From the classics to the most current scholarship, this book connects the theory and practice in environment and anthropology, giving readers a strong intellectual foundation as well as offering practical tools for solving environmental problems. Haenn and Wilk pose the most urgent questions of environmental protection: How are environmental problems mediated by cultural values? What are the environmental effects of urbanization? When do environmentalists get in conflict with indigenous peoples? How can we assess the impact of 'environmentally correct' businesses such as the Body Shop? They also cover the fundamental topics of population growth, large scale development, biodiversity conservation, sustainable environmental management, indigenous groups, consumption, and globalization. Balancing landmark essays with cutting-edge scholarship, bridging theory and practice, and offering suggestions for further reading and new directions for research, The Environment in Anthropology is the ideal introduction to a burgeoning field. Contributors: J. Peter Brosius, Billie DeWalt, Arturo Escobar, Akhil Gupta, Caren Kaplan, Conrad Kottak, David Maybury-Lewis, B.J. McCay, Kay Milton, Virginia Nazarea, Robert Netting, Vandana Shiva, Julian Steward, and Susan C. Stonich.

Genres: Anthropology, Ecology, Academic, Sustainability

504 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2005

Reviews

[BookSweetie]

This volume of essays/ articles on the anthropological view of the environment is intended for an academic audience. In fact, the book I checked out came from a university library.

I am not specifically part of the intended audience, but as a reader curious about the topic, I did a slow read of a number of essays and was not disappointed in light of my expectations. Of course, as I anticipated, not all the essay abstracts sounded appealing, so my reading skipped around.

I am logging this title, consequently, as a partial read. I am not going to star rate this volume, given that that seems more appropriate for the professionals in the intended audience and that each article was written by different authors or groups of authors and faced editor and academic (peer) scrutiny prior to inclusion. Not recommended for general readers, but specialty readers might be interested in some topics.

An unintended consequence: a renewed appreciation of a different category of non-fiction books --those written by experts that ARE intended for non-specialists, with writers with the writing chops to draw us in with clear explanations and appealing style. Those non-fiction writers can be under-appreciated!!!!