![]() ![]() Steward’s theory centered around a culture core, which he defined as “the constellation of features which are most closely related to subsistence activities and economic arrangements” (Steward 1955:37).īy the 1960s and 1970s, cultural ecology and environmental determinism lost favor within anthropology. He looked for the adaptive responses to similar environments that gave rise to cross-cultural similarities (Netting 1996:267). The detailed ethnographic accounts of Boas, Malinowski, and others led to the realization that environmental determinism could not sufficiently account for observed realities, and a weaker form of determinism began to emerge (Milton 1997).Īt this time, Julian Steward coined the term “ cultural ecology” (see Principal Concepts). The earliest attempts at environmental determinism mapped cultural features of human populations according to environmental information (for example, correlations were drawn between natural features and human technologies) (Milton 1997). Therefore, an ecosystem (see Principal Concepts) consists of organisms acting in a bounded environment.Īs a reaction to Darwin’s theory, some anthropologists eventually turned to environmental determinism (see Principal Concepts) as a mechanism for explanation. This includes the relationships of animals with the inorganic and organic environments, above all the beneficial and inimical relations Darwin referred to as the conditions for the struggle of existence” (Netting 1977:1). Haekel coined our modern understanding of ecology in 1870, defining it as “the study of the economy, of the household, of animal organisms. ![]() The word “ ecology” is derived from the Greek oikos, meaning habitation. This circumstance leads to disease and hunger which eventually put a limit on the growth of the population (Seymour-Smith 1986:87). ![]() Malthus pioneered demographic studies, arguing that human populations naturally tend to outstrip their food supply (Seymour-Smith 1986:87). Malthus (see Leading Figures) had an obvious influence on Darwin’s formulations. It is the environmental context that determines whether or not a trait is beneficial. Individuals with favorable characteristics, or variations, survive to reproduce. In each generation, more individuals are produced than can survive (because of limited resources), and competition between individuals arises. In The Origin of Species (1859), Charles Darwin presented a synthetic theory of evolution based on the idea of descent with modification. In a general sense, ecological anthropology attempts to provide a materialist explanation of human society and culture as products of adaptation to given environmental conditions (Seymour-Smith 1986:62). Ecological anthropology investigates the ways that a population shapes its environment and the subsequent manners in which these relations form the population’s social, economic, and political life (Salzman and Attwood 1996:169). Human populations have ongoing contact with and impact upon the land, climate, plant, and animal species in their vicinities, and these elements of their environment have reciprocal impacts on humans (Salzman and Attwood 1996:169). Ecological anthropology focuses upon the complex relations between people and their environment. ![]()
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