Abstract
Environmental anthropologists have refined, challenged, and reconfigured the conceptual
divide between human culture and nonhuman nature through multidisciplinary,
cross-cultural ethnographic inquiry. Problematizing the assumption that society is
fundamentally separate fromthe biospheric realm, scholars have called attention to the
various ways in which the physical environment shapes human culture and vice versa.
This entry explores environmental anthropology’s engagement with the nature/culture
dichotomy, focusing on five prominent themes in the subfield’s literature: equilibrium
versus postequilibrium approaches, power and politics, environmentalism, the
nature/culture divide, and biocultural diversity.
divide between human culture and nonhuman nature through multidisciplinary,
cross-cultural ethnographic inquiry. Problematizing the assumption that society is
fundamentally separate fromthe biospheric realm, scholars have called attention to the
various ways in which the physical environment shapes human culture and vice versa.
This entry explores environmental anthropology’s engagement with the nature/culture
dichotomy, focusing on five prominent themes in the subfield’s literature: equilibrium
versus postequilibrium approaches, power and politics, environmentalism, the
nature/culture divide, and biocultural diversity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | International Encyclopedia of Anthropology |
| Editors | Hilary Callan |
| Publisher | John Wiley & Sons Ltd. |
| Pages | 1-19 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781118924396 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9780470657225 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 5 Oct 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |