Nature Wars: Essays Around a Contested Concept

Description

Organized around issues, debates and discussions concerning the various ways in which the concept of nature has been used, this book looks at how the term has been endlessly deconstructed and reclaimed, as reflected in anthropological, scientific, and similar writing over the last several decades. Made up of ten of Roy Ellen’s finest articles, this book looks back at his ideas about nature and includes a new introduction that contextualizes the arguments and takes them forward. Many of the chapters focus on research the author has conducted amongst the Nuaulu people of eastern Indonesia. Nature Wars Contents Illustrations Preface Acknowledgements Note on Orthography Introduction Chapter 1. What Black Elk Left Unsaid Chapter 2. Comparative Natures in Melanesia Chapter 3. Political Contingency, Historical Ecology and the Renegotiation of Nature Chapter 4. Indigenous Environmental Knowledge and Its Transformations Chapter 5. From Ethno-science to Science Chapter 6. Local and Scientific Understandings of Forest Diversity Chapter 7. Why Aren’t the Nuaulu Like the Matsigenka? Chapter 8. Roots, Shoots and Leaves Chapter 9. Tools, Agency and the Category of ‘Living Things’ Chapter 10. Is There a Role for Ontologies in Understanding Plant Knowledge Systems? References Index