Redefining Nature: Ecology, Culture and Domestication (Explorations in Anthropology) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 185973135X ISBN 13: 9781859731352

Publisher: Routledge, 1996

Synopsis

- How can anthropology improve our understanding of the interrelationship between nature and culture?- What can anthropology contribute to practical debates which depend on particular definitions of nature, such as that concerning sustainable development?Humankind has evolved over several million years by living in and utilizing 'nature' and by assimilating it into 'culture'. Indeed, the technological and cultural advancement of the species has been widely acknowledged to rest upon human domination and control of nature. Yet, by the 1960s, the idea of culture in confrontation with nature was being challenged by science, philosophy and the environmental movement. Anthropology is increasingly concerned with such issues as they become more urgent for humankind as a whole. This important book reviews the current state of the concepts of 'nature' we use, both as scientific devices and ideological constructs, and is organised around three themes:- nature as a cultural construction;- the cultural management of the environment; and- relations between plants, animals and humans.

About this title

About the Author

Roy Ellen Professor of Anthropology and Human Ecology,University of Kent at Canterbury Katsuyoshi Fukui Professor of Anthropology, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka, Japan

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 185973135X
• ISBN 13: 9781859731352
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 688
• Editor: Ellen Roy, Fukui Katsuyoshi