Ecocriticism and

Anthropology
By
Mark Joseph R. Golez BSCE-4
GEC 12-22952
What is Ecological Anthropology?
-Is a sub-field of anthropology and is
defined as “the study of cultural
adaptations to environments”.
-The sub-field is also defined as, "the
study of relationships between a
population of humans and their
biophysical environment“.
-The focus of its research concerns
“how cultural beliefs and practices
helped human populations adapt to
their environments, and how people
used elements of their culture to
maintain their ecosystems.”
- Ecological anthropology developed
from the approach of cultural ecology,
and it provided a conceptual
framework more suitable for scientific
inquiry than the cultural ecology
approach. Research pursued under this
approach aims to study a wide range of
human responses to environmental
problems.
In 1960s
ecological anthropology
first appeared as a
response to cultural
ecology, a sub-field of
anthropology led by
Julian Steward.
-Steward focused on studying different
modes of subsistence as methods of
energy transfer and then analyzed how
they determine other aspects of
culture.
-Culture became the unit of analysis.
-The first ecological anthropologists
explored the idea that humans as
ecological populations should be the
unit of analysis, and culture became
the means by which that population
alters and adapts to the environment.
-Benjamin S. Orlove has
noted that the
development of
ecological anthropology
has occurred in stages.
-Each stage is a reaction
to the previous one
rather than merely an
addition to it.
 The Three Stages
- The first stage concerns the work of Julian
Steward and Leslie White.
- The second stage is tilted on
neofunctionalism and/or neoevolutionism.
- The third stage is termed as processual
ecological anthropology.
First stage
- There were two different models were
developed by both White and Steward.
- The distinction is not as rigid as some
critics have made it out to be, White’s
models of cultural evolution were
unilinear and monocausal, whereas
Steward admitted a number of different
lines of cultural development and a
number of different causal factors.
Second stage
- it was noted that the later group
agreed with Steward and White, while
the other disagreed. ‘Neoevolutionists’
borrowed from the work of Charles
Darwin. The general approach
suggested that “evolution is progressive
and leads towards new and better forms
in succeeding periods.”
- ‘Neofunctionalists’ “see the social
organization and culture of specific
populations as functional adaptations
which permit the populations to
exploit their environments successfully
without exceeding their carrying
capacity.”
Third stage
- Processual ecological anthropology is
noted to be new. Studies based on this
approach “seek to overcome the split
in the second stage of ecological
anthropology between excessively
short and long time scales.”
- One of the leading
practitioners within
this sub-field of
anthropology was
Roy Rappaport.
- He delivered many outstanding works
on the relationship between culture
and the natural environment in which
it grows, especially concerning the role
of ritual in the processual relationship
between the two.
- He conducted the majority, if not all,
of his fieldwork amongst a group
known as the Maring, who inhabit an
area in the highlands of Papua New
Guinea.
- Patricia K. Townsend's work highlights
the difference between ecological
anthropology and environmental
anthropology.
-  In her view, some anthropologists
use both terms in an interchangeable
fashion.
- She states that, "Ecological
anthropology will refer to one
particular type of research in
environmental anthropology – field
studies that describe a single
ecosystem including a human
population.“
That’s all, Thank you!
QUESTIONS:
1. ______is the study of cultural adaptations to environments.
2. ______has noted that the development of ecological anthropology has
occurred in stages.
3. ______ became the unit of ______.
4. The ______concerns the work of Julian Steward and Leslie White.
5. He conducted the majority, if not all, of his fieldwork amongst a group
known as the _____, who inhabit an area in the highlands __________.
6. Patricia K. Townsend's work highlights the difference between _______
anthropology and ________ anthropology.
7. Neoevolutionists borrowed from the work of _________.
8. The third stage is termed as ______________.
Reference
• https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_anth
ropology
• https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQn7lUK
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