Anthropology and Climate Change

Susan A. Crate is an anthropologist in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University and author of Cows, Kin and Globalization: The Ethnography of Sustainability (AltaMira Press 2006) Mark Nuttall holds the Henry Marshall Tory Chair in the Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta. He is editor of the landmark, three-volume Encyclopedia of the Arctic (Routledge 2005) and author or editor of many other books.

"...This effectively organized, crisply presented, and compellingly argued book is essential reading for everyone concerned about the impact of climate change on human communities around the world, and for readers of any background seeking to understand the unique and critical contributions of anthropology to these important questions. The list of contributors, with their highly varied interests and accomplishments, makes clear that anthropologists have been working on issues of environmental change and sustainability for decades, and that their contributions focus on precisely the kinds of questions that have been relatively neglected in the physical sciences of the environment. With its close attention to strategy and tactics, Anthropology and Climate Change will serve as a major resource for anthropologists looking for conceptual and practical tools by which they might refocus their work so as to contribute more effectively to these major debates of our day."... --Population and Development Review, Susan Greenhalgh "...The issues surrounding climate change loom large in the research agendas of many disciplines. Here, Crate (George Mason Univ.) and Nuttall (Univ. of Alberta) speak to fellow cultural anthropologists to illuminate realized and potential roles for them in this field. The volume contains three parts: "...Climate and Culture,"... "...Anthropological Encounters,"... and "...Anthropological Actions."... The book opens with four review chapters covering climate change in prehistory and recorded history, and earlier anthropological discourse relating to the environment. The areas of inquiry in anthropological climate change research are established as peoples' perceptions, knowledge, valuation, and responses or adaptations to the changes. Eleven short case studies recount field-based research worldwide. Most of the authors endorse livelihood analysis as a focus for climate change effects on indigenous cultures. The remaining nine chapters articulate active roles for anthropologists in policy making. New research topics, such as the consumer and car cultures, are introduced, as are ways to integrate climate change into interdisciplinary collaborations, curriculum development, and community outreach. Contributions are well written and documented, and they hold provocative ideas for research and action by students and professional anthropologists alike. Summing Up: Highly recommended."... --CHOICE "This book is a leap forward in our understanding of how societies around the globe perceive and adapt to climate change from the perspective of their own unique socio-cultural framework. It introduces concepts which advance the discussions of human adaptations to climate change from the realm of an esoteric intellectual debate about past societies, to one of pressing and immediate relevance for our modern world." - Arlene Miller Rosen, UCL Institute of Archaeology and author of Civilizing Climate "...Readers will benefit from the collective insight provided by diverse examples of how indigenous communities have fought to build or retain control over the resources, knowledge, and the lifeways that have sustained them through the 'becoming' of the ever changing world they inhabit. Climate researchers, policy makers, and students of all disciplines will find the narratives and insights within this volume both encouraging and thought-provoking as we all discover our role in 'imagining a culture of the near future that intelligently and responsibly' faces climate change and helping our research partners to negotiate successfully through this time."... - Zareen Pervez Bharucha, Sibirica

• Introduction: Anthropology and Climate Change, PART 1: CLIMATE AND CULTURE, PART 2: ANTHROPOLOGICAL ENCOUNTERS, PART 3: ANTHROPOLOGICAL ACTIONS, Epilogue: Anthropology, Science, and Climate Change Policy, About the Contributors, Index