Overview

Today human ecology has split into many different sub-disciplines such as historical ecology, political ecology or the New Ecological Anthropology. The latter in particular has criticised the predominance of the Western view on different ecosystems, arguing that culture-specific world views and human-environment interactions have been largely neglected. However, these different perspectives only tackle specific facets of a local and global hyper-complex reality. In bringing together a variety of views and theoretical approaches , these especially commissioned essays prove that an interdisciplinary collaboration and understanding of the extreme complexity of the human-environment interface(s) is possible.

Full Product Details

Author:   Michael J. Casimir
Publisher:   Berghahn Books, Incorporated
Imprint:   Berghahn Books, Incorporated
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.748kg
ISBN:  

9781571814784

ISBN 10:   1571814787
Pages:   410
Publication Date:   01 April 2008
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Undergraduate
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

List of Maps, Figures and Tables Preface The Mutual Dynamics of Cultural and Environmental Change: An Introductory Essay Michael J. Casimir PART I: EVALUATING, ATTRIBUTING AND DECIDING Chapter 1. Antinomies of Environmental Risk Perception: Cognitive Structure and Evaluation Gisela Böhm and Hans-Rüdiger Pfister Chapter 2. Risk Management and Morality in Agriculture: Conventional and Organic Farming in a German Region Thomas Döring, Lutz H. Eckensberger, Annette Huppert and Heiko Breit Chapter 3. Attributed Causes of Environmental Problems: A Cross-Cultural Study of Coping Strategies Josef Nerb, Andrea Bender and Hans Spada Chapter 4. Decision-Making in Times of Disaster: The Acceptance of Wet-Rice Cultivation among the Aeta of Zambales, Philippines Stefan Seitz Chapter 5. Drought and ‘Natural’ Stress in the Southern Dra Valley: Varying Perceptions among Nomads and Farmers Barbara Casciarri Chapter 6. Local Environmental Crises and Global Sea-Level Rise: The Case of Coastal Zones in Senegal Anita Engels Chapter 7. Meshing a Tight Net: A Cultural Response to the Threat of Open Access Fishing Grounds Andrea Bender PART II: KNOWLEDGE, MEANING AND DISCOURSE Chapter 8. Dangers, Experience and Luck: Living with Uncertainty in the Andes Barbara Göbel Chapter 9. Transforming Livelihoods: Meanings and Concepts of Drought, Coping and Risk Management in Botswana Fred Krüger and Andrea Grotzke Chapter 10. Cultural Politics of Natural Disasters: Discourses on Volcanic Eruptions in Indonesia Judith Schlehe Chapter 11. Knowing the Sea in the ‘Time of Progress’: Environmental Change, Parallel Knowledges and the Uses of Metaphor in Kerala (South India) Götz Hoeppe Chapter 12. Mass Tourism and Ecological Problems in Seaside Resorts of Southern Thailand: Environmental Perceptions, Assessments and Behaviour Regarding the Problem of Waste Karl Vorlaufer, Heike Becker-Baumann and Gabriela Schmitt Chapter 13. Local Experts – Expert Locals: A Comparative Perspective on Biodiversity and Environmental Knowledge Systems in Australia and Namibia Thomas Widlok Notes on Contributors Index

Reviews

This remarkable anthology of 13 essays is a cross-cultural study on ecological anthropology, which examines the cultural construction of nature, human evaluation of environmental risks, and human action to mitigate such risks. The anthology persuasively critiques the privileging of Western rationality over culture-specific perspectives of environmental change - [It] stands alone for the geographical sweep of its contributions - from Europe, Asia, and Africa - and its disciplinary eclecticism, which draws deeply on anthropology, geography, psychology, ethnography, ethnology, and sociology - Essential.A * Choice

Author Information

Michael J. Casimir is Professor of Cultural Anthropology at the University of Cologne. He has conducted prolonged fieldwork on the ecology, economy, environmental management and nutritional and socialisation patterns among pastoral nomads in west Afghanistan and Kashmir. Together with Aparna Rao he was chairperson of the Commission on Nomadic Peoples of the International Union of Ethnological and Anthropological Sciences (1995–1998), and was until 2004 one of the editors of Nomadic Peoples (Berghahn), the official journal of the Commission. His major publications include Flocks and Food. A Biocultural Approach to the Study of Pastoral Foodways (1991); Mobility and Territoriality (ed. 1992); Nomadism in South Asia (ed. 2003).

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