Environmental Anthropology: Future Directions

Description

This volume presents new theoretical approaches, methodologies, subject pools, and topics in the field of environmental anthropology. Environmental anthropologists are increasingly focusing on self-reflection - not just on themselves and their impacts on environmental research, but also on the reflexive qualities of their subjects, and the extent to which these individuals are questioning their own environmental behavior. Here, contributors confront the very notion of "natural resources" in granting non-human species their subjectivity and arguing for deeper understanding of "nature," and "wilderness" beyond the label of "ecosystem services." By engaging in interdisciplinary efforts, these anthropologists present new ways for their colleagues, subjects, peers and communities to understand the causes of, and alternatives to environmental destruction. This book demonstrates that environmental anthropology has moved beyond the construction of rural, small group theory, entering into a mode of solution-based methodologies and interdisciplinary theories for understanding human-environmental interactions. It is focused on post-rural existence, health and environmental risk assessment, on the realm of alternative actions, and emphasizes the necessary steps towards preventing environmental crisis. Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Figures List of Tables Preface Introduction: Environmental Anthropology of Today and Tomorrow Environmental Justice Environmental Values, Anthropocentrism, and Ecocentrism Human Nature and Universals Human Nature Human Universals Interdisciplinarity The Future of Environmental Anthropology: Introducing The Chapters Pathways: Reflections on Self and Society Health, Risk Assessment, and Prediction Solutions-Based Research and Alternative Methodologies and Lifeways References Pathways: Reflections on the Self and Society 1. The Mundane Bicycle and the Environmental Virtues of Sustainable Urban Mobility Situating Bicycle Mobility and Technology in Environmental Anthropology Shifting Historical Views on Bicycles and Environmental Virtue Dilemmas of Bicycle Sustainability The Mundane Urban Bicycle Conclusion Notes References 2. Requiem for Roadkill: Death and Denial on America’s Roads what is Roadkill? Conclusion: Implications for Environmental Anthropology Notes References 3. The Future of Environmental Anthropology: Bringing Smallholder Agriculture Research to the City Urban Agriculture in Montevideo Data Collection and Research Methodology Three Distinct Cases Community Gardens APODU—The Nascent Organic Movement in Montevideo Clasificadores: Raising Hogs and Living off the Trash (CCdCs) Conclusion References 4. Future Directions in Environmental Anthropology: Incorporating the Ethnography of Environmental Education Introduction The Formal Perspective Informal Perspective Emotion and Nature Directions in Anthropology of Environmental Education Conclusions Notes References Health, Risk Assessment, and Prediction 5. Ecomyopia Meets the Longue Durée: An Information Ecology of the Increasingly Arid Southwestern United States Introduction Study Area, Methods, and Conceptual Devices Study Area: Background of the Political Geography, Water Resources, and Water Management Institutions of the Arid Southwest Method for Theory Basic Conceptual Devices Stability Theory Results: the Conceptual Models Graphic Model 1 (Figure 5.7) Graphic Model 2a (Figure 5.8) Graphic Model 2b (Figure 5.9) Graphic Model 3a (Figure 5.10) Graphic Model 3b (Figure 5.11) New Hypotheses as an Emergent Property of Model Building Discussion: Toward an Epistemological Transition Limits to Stability Theory: The Known, the Unknown, and the Unknowable The Future as More Than an Information Environment Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes References 6. Sedna’s Children: Inuit Elders’ Perceptions of Climate Change and Food Security Introducing a Health Ecology Model Sedna’s Story The Research Setting: The Four Communities Research Methods Analysis of Central Themes Theme 1: Food Security Theme 2: Maintenance of Sharing Networks Theme 3: The Right to Harvest Traditional Foods Theme 4: Degree of Access to Country Food Theme 5: Threats to Sustainability of Arctic Foods Theme 6: A History of Inequities and Loss Theme 7: Becoming Nunavummiut Theme 8: Skepticism about Government Regulations Based on Scientific Studies Theme 9: Climate Change Conclusions Acknowledgments Ethical Considerations Notes References 7. Water Wary: Understandings and Concerns about Water and Health among the Rural Poor of Louisiana Introduction Water and Environmental Justice Water Pollution in Ascension Parish, Louisiana Methods Context Sample Data Collection Lived Experience of Water in Donaldsonville Conclusion References 8. Environmental Migration: The Future of Anthropology in Social Vulnerability, Disaster, and Discourse Introduction Global Climate Change and Environmental Migration Environmental Migration, Disaster, and Social Vulnerability “Hot spots” Vs. “Hot systems” Shishmaref, Alaska Environmental Migration as Discourse, Creating the “Poster Children” for Climate Change The Future of Environmental Migration in Anthropology References Solutions-Based Research, Alternative Methodologies, and Lifeways 9. Causal Explanation for Environmental Anthropologists What-Questions Cutting to the Causal Chase Ace Methodology Dos and Don’ts in Interdisciplinary Environmental Research: Some Illustrations from Forest-Fire Studies Acknowledgments Notes References 10. Possibilities for a Bioregional Anthropology Introduction Bioregional Thought and Action: An Overview Interdisciplinary Academic Engagements with Bioregionalism Toward A Bioregional Anthropology in the Ozark-Ouachita Region Defining Our Bioregion Conceptualizing Ozark-Ouachita Studies Other Bioregional Initiatives at ATU Conclusion References 11. Anthropologies of the Future: On the Social Performativity of (Climate) Forecasts Introduction The Pragmatics of Seasonal Climate Forecasting in Ceará, Northeast Brazil Forecasts and Promises The Task of Flattening Space and Time Fear of the Present Limits to the Pragmatic Efficacy of Forecasts Concluding Remarks Acknowledgements Notes References 12. Anthropology and Environmental Policy: Joint Solutions for Conservation and Sustainable Livelihoods Introduction Background Maasai Steppe Methods Hypothesis Test Trends in Wildlife Species Populations Trends in Pastoralist Livestock and Livelihoods Causes of Trends in Wildlife Populations Causes of Trends in Pastoralist Livelihoods Conservation and Development Interventions Benefits Sharing Ecotourism Community-Based Natural Resource Management Payment for Ecosystem Services Discussion Conclusions Acknowledgments Notes References Contributors Index