Archive
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Working with Local Knowledge: Environment and Anthropology
This is my American Anthropological Association presentation for 2007. Working with Local Knowledge: Bringing Environmentalism and Anthropology Together
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The Two Wings of the Bird
This is a presentation at the Society of Ethnobiology annual meeting, Berkeley, March 2007. It argues for using “scientific” and “humanistic” methods of description and analysis together, as part of a single agenda. The great anthropologists of the past did this. The current “wars” between science and humanistic approaches are counterproductive.
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Magic, Science and Religion
ABSTRACT Malinowski’s classic attempt to separate magic, science, and religion has not worn well. For some purposes, we now can find it very useful indeed, at least insofar as it separates pragmatic knowledge from unverifiable belief. However, as Malinowski admitted, traditional societies often categorize knowledge is ways very different from this. Knowledge of and ethics […]
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Madagascar on My Mind
An unpublished paper on current controversies over resource use by traditional and modern societies in Madagascar. I report some findings of a field team doing research in summer 2004. As often happens, we found that a middle position worked best. But read the paper.
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The Wodewose
A paper on the myth of the “wild man” or “savage” in anthropology, with special reference to the work of Roger Bartra.THE WODEWOSE: NOTES ON ROGER BARTRA’S WILD MEN E. N. Anderson Dept. of Anthropology Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521 Sylvester Woodhouse San Onofre, CA SUMMARY Roger Bartra, in his recent books Wild Men […]
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Wilderness and Political Ecology: A Review
My book review of Charles Kay and Randy Simmons’ important book, Wilderness and Political Ecology Wilderness and Political Ecology. Charles Kay and Randy Simmons (eds.). University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. Illus., bibliography. ISBN 0-87480-719-0. The thesis of this book is stated at the beginning: “Most environmental laws and regulations…assume a certain fundamental state […]