Applying Anthropology: Environmental Anthropology

Photo of an Asian farmer.  Cattle are indigenous to Africa and only used in Asia after their introduction many centuries ago, a demonstration of paleoecology.  Photo credit: University of Kent

With the discipline of anthropology being broadly defined as the study of all humans (from their biology to their cultures) there really is no end to the possible applications of the discipline to any other type of scholarly or professional inquiry.  Despite this I am still regularly surprised when people ask me what one can do with anthropology.  This blog post is part of a series of posts dedicated to exploring that very question and providing various answers since there really is not a one size fits all answer (well there is, which is you can do anything and everything with anthropology *:)*).  Today’s blog post will explore one such applied field of anthropology: environmental anthropology.

Environmental anthropology is a sub-subfield of anthropology that is concerned with the interactions of humans with their environments and environmental interactions that drive both biological and cultural evolution among humans.  This a very basic definition for a broad sub-subfield.  Environmental anthropologists exist in all four subfields of anthropology as the study of human-environmental interactions can and is quite vast.  It can and does include the study of environmental degradation in the past (e.g. the fall of ancient Maya city-states); how global interactions among various groups leads to changing subsistence strategies, particularly when the environment is not hospitable for such changes but technological innovations allow it (e.g. farming in desert environments due to the interventions of irrigation and fertilizer); how groups identify and define environmental phenomenon (e.g. definitions of weather), and how specifically the environment drives biological evolution (e.g. the various skin colors that exist among all humans).  This list, however, is not comprehensive by any means. 

The field is derived from the work of Julian Steward, who in the mid-20^th century became very concerned with how environments drove cultural evolution among humans.  He noted patterns in cultural traditions among groups that existed in similar but geographically separated environments (e.g. the Chinchorro of South America and the San! of Southern Africa) and wanted to explore the environmental interactions further through comparative studies of cultural groups.  This led to a variety of conclusions that show that people can and will be innovative with solving problems but there are limitations to these solutions based on the environmental conditions that exist for each.  For example, both the Chinchorro and San! were (are in the case of the San!) foraging based groups who exist in deserts on opposite ends of the Earth. 

There are obvious unique characteristics to their cultural traditions (e.g. the Chinchorro practice mummification, whereas the San! do not), which was a sticking point for many anthropologists.  This sticking point led to the evolution of the field of environmental anthropology to move away from cultural evolution to biological evolution.  The pendulum swung back to cultural studies within environmental anthropology later, but instead of a cultural comparative aspect to the field anthropologists were concerned with how globalization affected human-environmental interactions.

Today, environmental anthropologists are involved in a variety of projects.  Paleoecologists (biological anthropologists and archaeologists) continue to study changing biological landscapes to understand how humans affected their natural environment, but they are also discovering plants and animal species that were once lost and can be reintroduced into an area.  For example, native species of cotton, which were almost wiped out but are actually much heartier than modern cotton plants, are being reintroduced to provide farmer more viable crop options.  Environmental social justice is another area of inquiry, in which primarily cultural and linguistic anthropologists focus on how cultural interactions negatively affect some groups while privileging others.  This has led to research into environmental pollution affecting lower socioeconomic groups who accept these consequences because of the income it provides to poor economic practices by international lending agencies that force poor countries to invest their agricultural production in highly profitable but environmentally harmful products.  There are also several environmental anthropologists that work with conservation agencies in determining how best to educate groups of people around the globe on how not to overuse and abuse their natural resources while also remaining able to live comfortable, safe, healthy, and environmentally sustainable lifestyles.

The possibilities for research and employment opportunities are quite endless for environmental anthropologists, much like it is for anthropologists generally.  With major economic/job forecast agencies predicting a 22% increase in the need for anthropologists in the next two decades anthropology is definitely a field that anyone should consider either entering into directly or indirectly.  Anthropological inquiry has so much potential to enhance any and all professional fields, just as demonstrated here with the versatility with environmental anthropology

References

Ingold, T. (n.d.). Environmental Anthropology. Retrieved from Royal Anthropological Institute: https://www.discoveranthropology.org.uk/about-anthropology/specialist-areas/ecological-environmental-anthropology.html

Panakhyo, M., & McGrath, S. (n.d.). Ecological Anthropology. Retrieved from Anthropological Theory Database: https://anthropology.ua.edu/theory/ecological-anthropology/

Stanford University. (n.d.). Environmental Anthropology. Retrieved from Stanford University Department of Anthropology: https://anthropology.stanford.edu/research-projects/environmental-anthropology