Native Americans and the Environment
Perspectives on the Ecological Indian
Brian Hosmer author Michael E Harkin editor David Rich Lewis editor
Format:Paperback
Publisher:University of Nebraska Press
Published:1st Mar '07
Should be back in stock very soon
Explores related historical and contemporary themes and subjects involving Native Americans and the environment. This volume examines topics as divergent as Pleistocene extinctions and the problem of storing nuclear waste on modern reservations.Native Americans and the Environment brings together an interdisciplinary group of prominent scholars whose works continue and complicate the conversations that Shepard Krech started in The Ecological Indian. Hailed as a masterful synthesis and yet assailed as a problematic political tract, Shepard Krech’s work prompted significant discussions in scholarly communities and among Native Americans. Rather than provide an explicit assessment of Krech’s thesis, the contributors to this volume explore related historical and contemporary themes and subjects involving Native Americans and the environment, reflecting their own research and experience. At the same time, they also assess the larger issue of representation. The essays examine topics as divergent as Pleistocene extinctions and the problem of storing nuclear waste on modern reservations. They also address the image of the “ecological Indian” and its use in natural history displays alongside a consideration of the utility and consequences of employing such a powerful stereotype for political purposes. The nature and evolution of traditional ecological knowledge is examined, as is the divergence between belief and practice in Native resource management. Geographically, the focus extends from the eastern Subarctic to the Northwest Coast, from the Great Lakes to the Great Plains to the Great Basin.
“This excellent anthology features 12 articles originally presented at the 2002 conference ‘Re-figuring the Ecological Indian.’ Of uniformly high quality, the essays respond to Shepard Krech’s The Ecological Indian . . . while furthering discussion of historical and contemporary ideas about Native people as ecologists and conservationists. . . . Harkin and Lewis provide an erudite introduction elucidating the complex issues involved in the discussion. . . . This volume provides an important contribution to a critical, ongoing debate.”—CHOICE
"Because of its deliberate interdisciplinary approach, Native Americans and the Environment with appeal to a wide variety of academics and those who appreciate bona fide intellectual exchange. Yet this book also contributes important commentary on contemporary environmental and resource management debates. Its timeliness adds to its appeal."—Elizabeth James, Alaska History
“This book provides a balanced perspective on the history of resource use and the social and political pressures that affected resource use in the past and continue to affect use in the present.”—Susan C. Ryan, Journal of American Ethnic History
“This is a valuable collection with many carefully documented analyses that speak to the complex and often ambiguous details of Native American environmental relationships, past and present.”—Eugene S. Hunn, Western Historical Quarterly
“This book will be valuable for anthropologists, historians, educators, resource managers, and the general public interested in learning about Native Americans have been, and are still, front and center in using and managing their environments. . . . Each stand-alone essay is a fascinating look at the state of the debate on Native Americans and their environments.”—Great Plains Research
"Harkin and Lewis's book is a thoughtful and thought-provoking exploration of these issues which will be profitably read by anyone interested in environmental anthropology, Native North America, Indian-European relations, and cultural identity."—Robert Jarvenpa, Anthropos
ISBN: 9780803273610
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 544g
370 pages