Human Ecology Contemporary Research and Practice
This comprehensive sourcebook on human ecology combines 25 source articles published in the journal Human Ecology, enhanced with new research updates and thematic commentary. Intended as a follow up to Case Studies in Human Ecology, this volume includes a
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Daniel G. Bates Judith Tucker ●
Editors
Human Ecology Contemporary Research and Practice
Editors Daniel G. Bates Hunter College City University of New York New York, NY USA [email protected]
Judith Tucker New York, NY USA
ISBN 978-1-4419-5700-9 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-5701-6 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-5701-6 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2010923236 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
Preface
This book arose from the need to develop accessible research-based case study material which addresses contemporary issues and problems in the rapidly evolving field of human ecology. Academic, political, and, indeed, public interest in the environmental sciences is on the rise. This is no doubt spurred by media coverage of climate change and global warming and attendant natural disasters such as unusual drought and flood conditions, toxic dust storms, pollution of air and water, and the like. But there is also a growing intellectual awareness of the social causes of anthropogenic environmental impacts, political vectors in determining conservation outcomes, and the role of local representations of ecological knowledge in resource management and sustainable yield production. This is reflected in the rapid increase of ecology courses being taught at leading universities in the fastgrowing developing countries much as was the case a decade or two ago in Europe and North America. The research presented here is all taken from recent issues of Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal. Since the journal itself is a leading forum for contemporary research, the articles we have selected represent a cross-section of work which brings the perspectives of human ecology to bear on current problems being faced around the world. The chapters are organized in such a way to facilitate the use of this volume either to teach a course or to introduce an informed reader to the field. Basic issues and key concepts are introduced in the general Introduction and in Overviews to each of the four subsequent sections. Section I deals with theoretical and methodological issues, notably what constitutes causal explanation, the risky use of metaphors in ecological discourse,
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