The ecosystem approach in anthropology. Emilio F. Moran (Ed.), 1990, The University of Michigan Press, xix + 476 pp., $49.50 (clothbound), $16.95 (paperbound)
✍ Scribed by James Schoenwetter
- Book ID
- 102225968
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1992
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 162 KB
- Volume
- 7
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0883-6353
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
This book is a revised edition of The Ecosystem Concept in Anthropology (Moran, 1984). Nine of the 13 chapters of the earlier edition reappear; all have been adapted (Bennet's through an addendum explaining lack of revision) and those by Little e t al. and Conant have undergone significant revision. Three of the six new chapters are archaeologically oriented, and the two which now constitute the assessments section are a significant improvement. The new chapter by Rappaport is a particularly welcome statement. Chapters of the earlier edition were organized into three sections: Assessment of Past and Present Approaches, New Directions in Resolving the Problem of Time and Boundary Definition in Ecosystems, and New Directions in Resolving the Problems of Hierarchical Level, Scale, and Data Collection. Here they are organized into four sections: Assessment of the Ecosystem Approach (2 chapters), Ecosystemic Approaches in Archaeological Research Design and Practice (4 chapters), Ecosystemic Approaches in Cultural Anthropology (5 chapters), and Towards Interdisciplinarity in Ecosystem Research (4 chapters). The new emphasis is on how and when ecological research may be appropriately and effectively designed rather than on whether or not it is relevant and productive-though that matter is not assumed to be closed. Moran's preface stole the thunder of my review by providing a full analysis of the structure, intent, and article-by-article contents of the book. I cannot really improve on it and advise that it be studied prior to and during one's first reading.