The Ecosystem Approach in Anthropology

The Ecosystem Approach in Anthropology

From Concept to Practice

Revised Edition

Emilio F. Moran, Editor

A reassessment of the ecosystem concept for anthropology

Description

In The Ecosystem Approach in Anthropology, leading figures in the study of biological and human ecology evaluate the contribution made by ecological and ecosystem studies to anthropology and propose ways to advance the state of knowledge in ecological analysis. The book is a completely new, thoroughly revised edition of The Ecosystem Concept in Anthropology, published in 1984. Four new essays have been added, and the remaining essays have been significantly updated and revised to reflect recent changes in ecological research. Unlike the earlier edition, the goal of which was to reassess the ecosystem concept for anthropology, this new edition incorporates that material within an organization that discusses how ecological research can be designed profitably and executed within an ecosystem framework.

Praise / Awards

". . . effectively illustrates the variety of theoretical, methodological, and practical anthropological insights that sober use of a powerful concept may achieve."
—Geoarchaeology: An International Journal
"[W]ill be a valuable contribution to many faculty and students who currently find no comparable book available. . . ."
—Clifford A. Behrens, University of California, Los Angeles

Look Inside

Table of Contents

About the Editor and Contributors ix

Preface xv

Part I. Assessment of the Ecosystem Approach

Chapter One. Ecosystem Ecology in Biology and Anthropology: A Critical Assessment
by Emilio F. Moran 3

Chapter Two. Ecosystems, Populations and People
by Roy A. Rappaport 41

Part II. Ecosystemic Approaches in Archaeological Research Design and Practice

Chapter 3. The Ecosystem Concept in Archaeology
by Michael Jochim 75

Chapter 4. A Human Ecosystem Framework for Archaeology
by Karl W. Butzer 91

Chapter 5. The Ecosystem Model and Long-Term Prehistoric Change: An Example from the Andes
by Christine A. Hastorf 131

Chapter 6. An Archaeological Assessment of Ecosystems in the Tucson Basin of Southern Arizona
by Suzanne K. Fish and Paul R. Fish 159

Part III. Ecosystemic Approaches in Cultural Anthropology: Research Design and Practice

Chapter 7. Trade, Environment, and the Reproduction of Local Systems in the Moluccas
by Roy F. Ellen 191

Chapter 8. Links and Boundaries:
Reconsidering the Alpine Village as Ecosystems
by Robert McC. Netting 229

Chapter 9. The Ecology of Cumulative Change
by Susan H. Lees and Daniel G. Bates 247

Chapter 10. Levels of Analysis and Analytical Level Shifting: Examples from Amazonian Ecosystem Research
by Emilio F. Moran 279

Chapter 11. Ecosystems and Methodological Problems in Ecological Anthropology
by Daniel R. Gross 309

Part IV. Towards Interdisciplinarity in Ecosystem Research

Chapter 12. Household Ecology: Decision Making and Resource Flows
by Richard R. Wilk 323

Chapter 13. 1990 and Beyond: Satellite Remote Sensing and Ecological Anthropology
by Francis Paine Conant 357

Chapter 14. Ecosystem Approaches in Human Biology: Their History and a Case Study of the South Turkana Ecosystem Project
by Michael A. Little, Neville Dyson-Hudson, Rada Dyson-Hudson, James E. Ellis, Kathleen A. Galvin, Paul W. Leslie, and David M. Swift 389

Chapter 15. Ecosystems, Environmentalism, Resource Conservation, and Anthropological Research
by John W. Bennett 435

Name Index 459

Subject Index 461