This landmark volume assesses the contribution of recent work in ethnobiology to anthropological thought. Comprising a series of articles written by international scholars, the book considers the ways in which the subject matter and methodologies of ethnobiological research address core anthropological questions about the character of culture, language, cognition, knowledge, subsistence practice and co–evolution.
The contributors explore a wide variety of themes including: our understanding of those processes which transform the environment; the evolution of the cultural mind; classification and cognitive science; the character of cultural transmission; ethnobiology and archaeological interpretation; medical ethnobotany in relation to medical anthropology; and local ecological knowledge as applied anthropology. In this way, the book addresses issues of general interest in anthropology and helps to develop the productive relationship between ethnobiology and anthropology.
1Preface.
. Introduction: Roy Ellen (University of Kent, UK).
2. Speculations on the First Congress of Ethnozoological Nomenclature: Brent Berlin (University of Georgia, USA).
3. Ethnobiology and the Evolution of the Human Mind: Steven Mithen (University of Reading, UK).
4. The Interplay of Ethnographic and Archaeological Knowledge in the Study of Past Human Subsistence: David Harris (University College London).
5. The Contrastive Historical Ecologies of Amazonian Hunter–Gatherers: Laura Rival (University of Oxford, UK).
6. The Interface Between Medical Ethnobotany and Medical Anthropology: Anna Waldstein and Cameron Adams (Department of Anthropology, University of Kent).
7. Ethnobiology and Applied Anthropology: Paul Sillitoe (University of Durham, UK).
8. Meeting of Minds: How do we Share our Appreciation of Tek?: Eugene Hunn (University of Washington, USA).
Index.
“Roy Ellen manages to assemble a series of articles, most of the written by internationally renowned scholars, which comprise an astonishing variety of themes and theories.” (Anthropos, 2009)
“The book’s eight chapters succeed admirably in meeting its goal. It provides an eclectic, but reasonably comprehensive overview … through many thought–provoking examples.” Journal of Anthropological Research
Roy Ellen is Professor of Anthropology and Human Ecology at the University of Kent at Canterbury. His research, mainly focussed on island southeast Asia, has spanned issues in ethnobiological classification, the ecology of swidden cultivation, deforestation and inter–island trade. His previous publications include On the Edge of the Banda Zone (2003), The Cultural Relations of Classification (1993) and Environment, Subsistence and System (1982).
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