Environmental Anthropology with Reference to Cultural Ecology - Annotated Bibliography Example

Environmental issues Anthropology forms the basic learning ground and understanding of human culture and their ways of life in the universe. Anthropology provides an overview of problem solving techniques used by the sociologists in enhancing peace in the societies. Studying and creating awareness about people’s way of life is a significant tool in ensuring peace and mutual respect of divergent cultures. Anthropology will better help in solving environmental problems that surrounds human life. Environmental issues in the contemporary world are of great significance considering the way human life is regulated. Anthropological study of environment will help me in defining and determining various forces that operate in the environment and the possible ways of handling the individual forces. I value anthropological study of the environment because of its efficiency and accurateness in providing a clear and broad overview on the ways one should interrelate and transform the environment into an attractive place for my stay. In addition, anthropological study of the environment will help in understanding various concepts that dominate different community and be able to structure appropriate techniques of ensuring maximum peaceful coexistence with different individuals. Understanding environmental issues from the anthropological point of view is equally critical for the world in that it helps in fostering peace and love, which are the basic determination of a healthy world. Anthropological study of the environmental issues assists and enlightens human beings from different societies concerning various business and trading activities and principles that overrule the current world. Anthropological study of the environment enable people to discern and understand the history of politics in different societies, to help in the set up and establishment of an appropriate political system to rule particular communities. In addition, anthropological study of the environment assists people in obtaining historical socio-cultural practices of different community thereby providing a clear link to perceiving the structure of different communities in the current world. Furthermore, anthropological study of the environment enables people opportunities to innovate and renovate vital tools and machines used in the contemporary world by studying the history of creation of certain items. Havilland argues that human nature is the same and only differs due to environmental changes within their surroundings. Havilland portends that the changes in the environment is the main factors that determine the intractable human differences among human beings. Havilland argues that is the environment and not nature that determine the level of poverty among different members of the society. Havilland claims that the internal genes of an individual have no responsibility in determining the culture and language of an individual. Havilland links the variability in human nature to the evolutionary process with the environmental factors that called for adaptation of organisms. Havilland relates to the contemporary environmental issues in that they are both concerned with the rising cases of racism in the contemporary societies. Havilland as acts of meanness views racism. Havilland seeks to determine whether an individual is a racist and the potential effects of racism to the environment that involve cohabitation of people with diverse socio-cultural beliefs. The presence of racism in the contemporary societies is the main determinant of inequality in economic and political fields. Havilland argues that race cannot be not be used as means of describing people’s biological make up. “Appling Applied Anthropology in the Real World,” Web. 28 Nov. 2011. The author of the article argues that environmental anthropology in the real world mainly involves studying of human culture, behavior, language and biological make up. The author of the article persists that it is the sole responsibility of the anthropologists conduct research on the problems faced by human beings in various societies and formulate possible solutions to the problems. During the research into human problems, the anthropologists use techniques of observing the cultures, ethnography and collecting data. The author of the article argues that anthropologist conducts research on the governments, corporate organizations, social, political, and economic fields. The author of the article further argues that the data gathered by the anthropologists in their research are fundamental in assisting the governments and organizations in realizing the existing problems, future problems and the mistakes done to result into the contemporary environmental problem. The Applied anthropology as viewed by the author of the article has assisted in solving various environmental problems faced by different societies especially the Western Countries. The authors of the articles unveils that the affectivity of conducting anthropological research on the environmental issues affecting human life will be enhanced by in depth and expansive use of knowledge from other disciplines like sociology, psychology, history and physiology. The author of the article insists that Applied Anthropology research on the environment and creating awareness to the populace in a given society harmonizes people as well as ensuring peaceful coexistence. The author of the article claims that the anthropological research on cultural complexity on the environment takers into consideration the subculture of a given community to help understand the reasons for various environmental perspectives that influence people’s way of life and relation. The author of article unveils three approaches that can be used in conducting anthropological study of the environment. One of the mentioned by the author of this article is the holistic approach encompassing analysis of human biological and cultural development. The second approach according to the author of the article is the comparative approach that either examines difference between different cultural groups or internal and external differences among members of the same culture. One of the commentators on this article appreciate the role of the played by the Applied Anthropologists on conducting and opens research on the environment and proposing possible ways of creating peace and sanity in the contemporary environment. The environment in anthropology: A Reader in Ecology, Culture, and Sustainable Living, Nora Haenn and Richard Wilk This book talks about environmental anthropology with reference to cultural ecology. The book indicates that the cultural ecology tends to explain the origin of particular features related to a certain culture and patterns that influence different areas. Wilk and Haenn (5) confirm that cultural history leads to the identification of local environment. Wilk and haenn (5) reports that cultural ecology in different societal environments presents both problems and methods for solving the problems. The problems presented by the cultural ecology should always be qualified by use of supplementary information that regards the specific culture (Wilk and Haenn 5). Wilk and Haenn (5) report that in the holistic approach, all aspects of culture depend upon each other in executing various functions. Cultural changes can be effected by environmental changes that involve change in patterns of technology, politics, land use, land feature and social relations. In the views of Wilk and Haenn technological development bears greatest impact in the changes and transformation of cultural norms of various societies (6), However, the changes may only occur under the virtues of the environment that surrounds a given society. Wilk and Haenn add that a society also bears right to decide on whether or not to change with changes in the environment (6). Particular societies can also decide to change their cultural norms at will upon realizing the ineffectiveness of the specific culture with regard to the changing environment factors (Wilk and Haenn 7). In precise terms, Wilk and Haenn argue that successful changes in the human cultures rely on the ability of the individual society to adapt to the contemporary environmental factors (7). Wilk and Haenn report that the manner in which environmental features is distributed alongside climatic conditions of particular regions comprise the main reasons for effective changes in the cultural norms of particular communities (8). There exist differences and disagreement in the point of view between Havilland and the position taken by Wilk and Haenn with regard to the factors that result to cultural changes in different societies. While Havilland holds that cultural changes in human life are triggered by general changes in the environment, Wilk and Haenn tend to be specific of technology as main the cause of socio-cultures. While Wilk and Haenn hold that the societal problems are caused by culture, which in turn presents methods of tackling the problems, the author of the Applied Anthropology elaborates that solution to the problem are researched by the anthologists. Another difference exists between Havilland and the author of the Applied Anthropology. While Havilland argues environmental factors and processes such as evolution and race determine that human nature, the author of the Applied Anthropology insists that human nature is determined by the environmental factors that influence individual societies. The environmental issues in the contemporary world need to be determined with in depth consideration and concern. Anthropologists need to conduct expansive global education on significance of protecting and conserving environment the wellbeing and sustainability of different human cultures. It is evident that the massive pollution of environment is the main cause of changes that occur in the environment. Comment on the Article, “The Power of Cultural Anthropology to Address the World’s Problems” Anthropologists need to conduct expansive global education on significance of protecting and conserving environment the wellbeing and sustainability of different human cultures. It is evident that the massive pollution of environment is the main cause of changes that occur in the environment. Work cited Haenn, Nora and Wilk, Richard. The environment in anthropology: A reader in ecology, culture, and sustainable living. New York: New York University Press, 2006. Print. “The Power of Cultural Anthropology to Address the World’s Problems” Web. 28 Nov. 2011. Read More