The Ecosystem Approach in Anthropology

From Concept to Practice

Revised Edition

Edited by Emilio F. Moran

Subjects: Anthropology, Nature/Environment, Natural Resources
Paperback : 9780472081028, 496 pages, tables, figures, 6 x 9, December 1990
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.6885
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A reassessment of the ecosystem concept for anthropology

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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

Description

The Ecosystem Approach in Anthropology remains a seminal resource for scholars seeking to bridge the divide between biological and cultural systems. Edited by Emilio F. Moran, this comprehensive volume re-examines the utility of the ecosystem concept in light of past criticisms, transforming it from a rigid model of stability into a dynamic, flexible framework for modern research. By integrating traditional ethnography with cutting-edge methodologies like satellite remote sensing, GIS, and multi-scale analysis, the collected essays demonstrate how human behavioral choices, political economies, and historical contexts actively interact with changing biophysical environments. This essential text provides anthropologists, ecologists, and geographers with the conceptual and empirical tools necessary to address complex, contemporary global environmental challenges.

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