Diego Ramirez

Prof. Leader

Environmental Anthropology

Midterm Question

Julian Steward had developed the idea of cultural ecology, which can be defined as the

study of human adaptations to both social and physical environments. Steward also developed

the idea that cultural ecology has two main theories within it; one being an idea of environmental

determinism, the other being environmental possiblism. To understand these ideas, we can break

the definition down based on the words themselves. Determinism is the idea that all events,

including human actions, are determined by extrinsic forces that shape outcomes and conditions.

In regards to cultural geography and ecology, this essentially means that pre-set geographic

characteristics determine the evolution and creation of culture and cultural practices. Possiblism,

in regards to cultural geography and ecology, is the idea that the environment may set limitations

and constraints, but this does not determine culture. In other words, culture is based solely on

social conditions rather than what the pre-set geographic conditions are.

Some examples of environmental determinism, or when environmental determine culture,

can be seen in some stereotypical examples. For one, there is a stereotype that Jamaicans are

considered to be lazy, laid back, and relaxed. It would be possible for someone who believes in

environmental determinism to assume that these stereotyped attitudes stems from the fact that

Jamaica is based in a tropical climate. A hypothetical example would be if a civilization was to

be found settled near many bodies of water. The group of people would eventually adapt to
having to use fish as the number one source of food, and would perhaps create a social rule of

who should be going out into the ocean to fish (men or women, older or younger people).

On the other hand, environmental possibilism, in my opinion, is more difficult to think of

a precise example. Rather, it is easier to think of an era in which man has been able to change the

environment in some way, shape, or form. This brings forth the idea of the anthropocene, a

period of time/epoch that is categorized by the amount of influence that human activity has on

the climate and environment. There is a lot of debate as to whether or not we are currently

finding ourselves in this anthropocenic time, or if it had already passed, or if we are heading

towards it in the near future. Many people believe that the anthropocene began during the

Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions. Major changes in production allowed for humans to

utilize resources in rapid speed. We have increased our capacity in order to try and meet our

demands, and we began interfering with nature in order to satisfy what we need.