Anthropology 490 - Human-Environment Dynamics

ANTH 490: Lecture Notes by Kara Miller

Introduction to Anthropology

  • Anthropology (Anthro): The study of the human condition throughout past, present, and future.

    • Encompasses a 4-field holistic approach which includes:

    • Cultural anthropology

    • Archaeology

    • Biological anthropology

    • Linguistic anthropology

  • Evolutionary emphasis: Focus on survival and systems formation within human societies.

  • Exploration of resources, knowledge formation, and cooperation among communities.

  • Incorporates psychology and philosophical contemplation.

  • A key consideration: Interactions between environment and culture—how each influences the other.

Human Relationships with the Environment

  • Human-environment dynamics: Discussion of whether there is a separation or integration.

  • Adaptation and maladaptation: Examines how human adaptability changes over time.

  • Humans are viewed as:

    • Biological organisms

    • Cultural beings

  • Landscapes:

    • Seen as cultural and historical products rather than untouched nature.

    • Spiritual beliefs, cosmologies, and rituals that shape perceptions and interactions with environments.

    • Examination of human relationships with nonhuman beings and the implications for defining personhood.

  • Environmental knowledge is rooted in cultural foundations and is crucial for understanding human emotions and moral attachments to landscapes.

  • Discussion of linguistic structures that form environmental understanding, and how food systems serve as complex processes involving biological, cultural, political, and historical components.

  • Archaeological evidence indicates that technology plays a mediating role in human-environment relationships.

  • Environmental change is identified as a driver of cultural transformation.

Cultural and Political Ecology

  • Cultural Ecology:

    • Investigates how cultures adapt to their specific environmental conditions.

    • Focuses on aspects such as technology, subsistence systems, and social organization as mediators of environmental and cultural interactions.

  • Political Ecology:

    • Analyzes environmental issues through the lenses of power dynamics, inequality, and global economic forces.

    • Examines land access, resource extraction, conservation, and issues of climate justice.

    • Encourages critical questions about “whose environment?” and “who benefits?” from ecological decisions.

Ethnoecology and Historical Ecology

  • Ethnoecology:

    • Studies how different cultures perceive, understand, and interact with their natural environments.

  • Historical Ecology:

    • Views landscapes as results of long-standing interactions between human societies and ecological systems.

    • Emphasizes that “nature” is often cocreated over centuries through activities such as burning, agriculture, settlement, and ritual practices.

Phenomenology of Landscape

  • Examines how humans perceive and experience their environments through bodily interaction.

    • Recognizes that environments are not just backdrops but lived, sensory, and meaningful fields.

  • Ingold’s Dwelling Perspective: Grows from ideas in archaeology and body theory, proposing that our engagement with the environment forms our reality.

Ontological Connections

  • Investigates varying cultural concepts of what the environment is.

  • Moves away from the Western dualism between nature and culture.

    • Example: Amazonian perspectivism, which posits that humans, animals, and spirits share personhood and agency.

  • Focus on myths, stories, and religious ideologies about the environment.

Cosmology and Sacred Landscapes

  • Examines how natural features such as mountains, rivers, and forests gain spiritual significance.

    • Includes studies of pilgrimage landscapes, geomancy, origin places, and ritual ecology.

    • Explores the spiritual maintenance of the land.

Indigenous Knowledge & Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)

  • Illustrates how Indigenous communities develop advanced ecological knowledge through:

    • Practice

    • Observation

    • Ritual

  • This knowledge is typically intertwined with moral frameworks emphasizing reciprocity, caretaking, and kinship with nonhuman entities.

Multispecies Ethnography

  • Investigates interrelations among humans, animals, plants, fungi, microbes, and ecosystems as a network of interconnected actors.

  • Challenges human exceptionalism by emphasizing shared existence and co-becoming with nonhuman life forms.

Environmental Ethics and Relationality

  • Studies anthropological notions of reciprocity, obligation, and responsibility toward land.

  • Concepts of stewardship and care are emphasized through examples such as:

    • Andean Ayni: The principle of reciprocity.

    • Native American Relational Ontologies: Viewing land as kin.

    • Maori Kaitiakitanga: The concept of guardianship over the environment.

Environmental Perception & Cultural Models of Nature

  • Explores how societies define, categorize, and morally evaluate their environments.

  • Examines how metaphors like “wilderness,” “frontier,” “resource,” and “mother earth” shape behavior.

  • Studies often compare Western and traditional perspectives to reveal how industrial practices separate humans from nature, along with analyzing hierarchies of power over nature.

Environmental Anthropology of Risk, Disaster, & Resilience

  • Investigates how communities understand, prepare for, and respond to environmental hazards.

    • Includes discussions on climate adaptation, disaster anthropology, and frameworks for community resilience.

    • Focuses on the complexity of resource and information distribution networks and their implications for applied anthropological work.

The Anthropology of Infrastructure

  • Looks at how physical structures like roads, dams, and water systems influence human-environment interactions, and vice versa.

  • Special focus on:

    • Materiality

    • Political aspects

    • Uneven ecological burdens

  • Recognizes that social impacts are often secondary considerations in anthropological work.

Spiritual Ecology

  • Explores intersections among religion, ritual, and ecological stewardship.

    • Includes topics such as monastic environmentalism, religious conservation movements, ecotheology, animism, and the ritual maintenance of the environment.

  • Emphasizes spiritual connections gained through experiences in the natural world.

    • Recommended reading: The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram, which investigates the deep interplay between human cognition and the natural environment.

Material Culture & the Anthropology of Resources

  • Examines the transformation of natural materials (e.g., wood, stone, water, clay, and plants) into meaningful cultural objects.

  • Focuses on:

    • Extraction and sustainability

    • Crafting processes

    • Object biographies

  • Considers the full life cycle of resources including discovery, learning, adaptation, utilization, preparation, and sharing.

Environmental Memory & Sense of Place

  • Explores how landscapes are embedded with memories.

  • Discusses the impacts of displacement, migration, and climate change on these memories.

    • Reflects on identity formation and the sense of belonging and cultural/spiritual connections, including understandings of “souls.”

Environmental Justice & Climate Justice Studies

  • Connects ecological challenges with issues of race, class, indigeneity, and structural inequality.

  • Focuses on topics like:

    • Activism

    • Community science

    • Toxic exposure

    • Unequal vulnerability among communities.

Medical Ecology / Ecohealth

  • Examines the influence of environmental conditions on health outcomes.

    • Covers aspects like vector-borne diseases, nutrition, pollution, and trauma related to ecological degradation.

    • Example: Discussion of malaria case studies which illustrate these connections.

Energy Anthropology

  • Studies societal understanding, use, and moral perspectives regarding various forms of energy.

    • Investigates transitions in energy use (e.g., from fossil fuels to renewables) and their cultural implications.

  • Topics include:

    • Global networks

    • Sustainability and cooperation

    • Innovation and alternatives

    • Depressions due to resource depletion, extraction processes, and future planning.

The Anthropocene and Its Critiques

  • Engages in anthropological debates concentrated on human impact on planetary systems.

    • Reference: Mushroom at the End of the World by Anna Tsing, exploring life within the remnants of capitalism.

  • Discusses concerns such as:

    • Accelerated climate change (including warming, extreme weather, and sea-level rise).

    • Widespread biodiversity loss through species extinction and ecosystem disruption.

    • Ocean acidification and altered biogeochemical cycles.

    • Changes in landscapes due to urbanization and pollution leading to challenges in planetary stability and human health.

Ritual, Agriculture & Seasonal Cycles

  • Investigates ties between planting, harvesting, weather, and astronomy with ritual practices.

  • Studies meaningful aspects surrounding fertility, abundance, scarcity, and collaboration between humans and nonhumans.

  • Considerations include:

    • Cyclical farming and planting practices

    • Water systems and irrigation design

    • Discussions on the “usability” of land for human purposes and management of land or resources.

Extractionist Ideals

  • Engages with notions of conquest and dominance regarding land and nature.

  • These ideals have been compared to patriarchal structures, highlighting objectification and exploitation of both land and women.

Art, Environments, and Anthropology

  • Examines representations of the environment in various art forms.

  • Discusses environmental art and sacredness connected to earth shrines.

Eco-Somatics

  • Focuses on embodied experiences and connections to natural environments.

    • Includes:

    • Rewilding practices

    • Wayfinding activities

    • Sensory exercises and kinesthetic interactions.

    • Promotes interactive and earth-based methodologies.

Cultural Ecology + Community Psychology

  • Investigates:

    • Immersion and attunement to places

    • Sense-making practices

    • Place-based knowledge generation

    • Collective healing approaches embedded within landscapes

    • Therapeutic practices through rituals in nature

    • Socio-emotional learning frameworks

    • Eco-cultural identity formation

    • Ecotherapy practices that benefit psychological and environmental health.