Culture and the Changing Environment

Informationen zum Autor 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). Klappentext "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." · ChoiceToday 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.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). Zusammenfassung Today! human ecology has split into many different sub-disciplines! such as historical ecology! political ecology or the New Ecological Anthropology. This collection of essays aims to prove that an interdisciplinary collaboration and understanding of the extreme complexity of the human-environment interface(s) is possible. Inhaltsverzeichnis 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 Cros...

Auteur

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).

Texte du rabat

"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." · Choice 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. 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).

Résumé
Today, human ecology has split into many different sub-disciplines, such as historical ecology, political ecology or the New Ecological Anthropology. This collection of essays aims to prove that an interdisciplinary collaboration and understanding of the extreme complexity of the human-environment interface(s) is possible.

Contenu

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…