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Etnografik alan araştırması yöntemi kullanılarak yapılan bu tez, insan - çevre etkileşimini inceleyen ekolojik antropoloji ile ilgilidir. Tez, Kanal İstanbul Projesi’nin etkisiyle yaşanan çevresel değişim üzerinden güzergâh boyundaki Yeniköy’ü merkeze koyar. Odak, Kanal İstanbul olsa da bağımsız bir proje olarak tek başına değil Kuzey Marmara Otoyolu ve 3. Havaalanı’nın olduğu İstanbul’un kuzeyindeki şehir kompleksine referans vermesi dolayısıyla bu projelerden doğan çevresel etkileri de barındırır. 1960’lardan bu yana önemli bir değişiklik, köydeki kumullar üzerinde maden ocağı işletmeleri sonucu antropojenik müdahalenin yarattığı topografik değişimdir. Diğer bir dönüşüm, İstanbul’un kuzeyinde kurgulanan “Yeni Şehir”i içeren üç büyük projenin sulak ve verimli arazisi zengin olan köyde acele kamulaştırma kararıyla tarım arazisi ve mera alanlarının azalması, yok olması ve emisyonun temel ekonomik kaynaklara olumsuz etkisidir. Kanal İstanbul’un henüz bir “söylenti” olsa da yörede arsa spekülasyonu üzerinden ekonomik kriz baskısını da hissederek ebeveynlerin çocuklarına gelecek umuduyla elden çıkardığı araziler, proje öncesi imar yasağıyla başlayan barınma sorununun da yanında istihdam için şehre yapılan göçler ve yerel halkın yaşadığı belirsizlik kaygısı önemli etkilerindendir. Dahası yapılan projelerde köy halkına vaad edilen istihdam sözünün karşılanmaması devlete yönelik güvensizlik sebebiyken sıkça geçen uçakların yarattığı gürültü, cep telefonu ve TV kesintisi gündelik yaşama sirayet eden sorunlardandır. Revize edilse de köy mezarlığının taşınmasına dair tepkiler, köyün tamamen yerinden edilecek olması, projeye dönük sergilenen tutuma bağlı kolektif ilişki ağının sarsılması yaşama nüfuz eden başka sorunlardandır. Son olarak kolektif bir eylem sergilemek istediğinde baskı ve hukuki engellere maruz kalan halk, kanalı istemediğini beyan ederek yaşam alanına dair herhangi bir projede yerli bakışın sürece dâhil olmadığı müzakereyi reddetmektedir. This thesis, conducted by ethnograpic field research method is about ecological anthropology, the subject matter of which is human - environment interaction. The study puts Yeniköy along the route in the center through the environmental change caused by the Canal Istanbul Project. Although the focus is Canal Istanbul, it is not only a Project as a stand-alone Project, but also it includes the environmental impacts arising from these projects, as it refers to the city complex in the north of Istanbul, where the Northern Marmara Motorway and the 3rd Airport are located. An important change since 1960s is the topographic one created by the anthropogenic intervention of the mines on the sand dunes in the village. The other transformation is said to be the reduction and disappearance of the agricultural land and pasture lands, and the negative effect of emissions on basic economic resources by the decision of the hasty expropriation in the village, which has rich wet and fertile lands of the three big projects including the “New City” planned in the North of Istanbul. Although Canal Istanbul is still a “rumor”, among its important effects are the lands that the parents disposed because of the future for their children, feeling the pressure of the economic crisis over land speculation in the region, immigration to the city for employment in line with the housing problem derived from Zoning Ordinance before the Project and the uncertainty anxiety of the local people. Moreover, among the daily life problems are unkept promises of the employment of the village people by the projects as a distust towards the State, and the noise of frequent airplanes, mobile phones and TV programmes interruptions. Even though it has been revised, the reactions to the relocation of the village cemetery, the fact that the village will be completely displaced, the collapse of the collective network due to the attitudes towards the Project are the other problems in life. Last but not least, the people who are exposed to pressure and legal obstacles whenever they want to take a collective action reject the negotiations where the local perspective is not included in the process, declaring that they do not approve the Canal.

Modern thinking about the ground tends to take it as a purely material base for the unfolding of history and ideas emerging on its surface. In this article, I question above-ground visions of city building by drawing on both the history of ground engineering and ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Paris with geotechnicians. I address the difficulties that theorists have faced over past centuries in modelling soils, and the contemporary practice of building piles underneath buildings to anchor them. From this unfolds an understanding of the ground as produced through an equilibrium between forces and materials in which buildings become participants, rather than a solid base upon which they stand. Looking at the activities of foundation builders, we find that the inertia of the urban soil no longer betokens an absence of activity or movement, but is rather a continuous achievement, a slow and dangerous process of balancing tensions.

International audience; The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 has threatened ethnographic inquiry, undermining its quintessential characteristic. Participant observation, then, has been thoroughly dismembered by the radical measures implemented to prevent the spread of the virus. This phenomenon, in short, has dragged anthropologists to a liminal state within which ethnography is paradoxically caught in an onto-epistemological unstable vortex. The question of being here and not there, during the pandemic, is epitomised in the instability of different spatio-temporal contexts that overlap through technological mediations. Reflecting on previous fieldwork experiences and current virtual inquiries with the Shuar of the Ecuadorian Amazon unfolds how COVID-19 has thoroughly reshaped how the author approaches subjects' socio-ecological settings. Against this background, the article argues that corporeal immersion remains a necessary condition for the anthropological scrutiny of multispecies relationalities amidst the challenging times of the Anthropocene. The article nevertheless demonstrates that the intellectual efforts to grasp the different material temporalities of virtual spaces embrace the ethical principles concerning the renunciation of fieldwork with vulnerable communities. Furthermore, a reflective and speculative stance is proposed to actualise the snapshots of faraway physicalities linking them to past embodied and multi-sensory experiences. It is ultimately theorised how these mnemonic devices operate as creative forms of inquiry that overcome the pandemic consequences, extra-stimulating our cognitive capabilities to reflect on prior and possible socio-material interactions.

En Afrique francophone, les pionniers de l’étude des « pharmacopées traditionnelles » furent essentiellement des pharmaciens militaires, tels Joseph Kerharo au Sénégal, Pierre Boiteau à Madagascar, Armand Bouquet en Côte d’Ivoire ou au Congo, en lien avec le laboratoire fondé par Portères. Ils entendaient explicitement poser les bases d’une ethno-pharmacologie, et non de la seule part d’ethno-botanique, car il s’agit de la préparation et de l’administration du pharmakon pour le traitement de troubles, de « maladies » et non de la seule matière première végétale.Mais c’est l’orientation biologique (étique) qui a prévalu. Ces travaux disent très peu du point de vue des praticiens et des malades (emic), ce que l’anthropologie de la santé étudie. Un retournement de perspective tel que celui réalisé par Marc Augé (1986) à propos de l’anthropologie de la maladie a été tenté proposant une anthropologie du remède. Il s’agit de dépasser les apories bien discutées par Tim Ingold (1992-2013) entre écologie culturelle et anthropologie écologique, pour tenter l’anthropologie écologique alternative, en travaillant sur les propriétés médicinales (pharmacologiques) d’item comme autant d’affordances sélectionnées dans un environnement donné par une communauté d’humains ou d’animaux. Cet article suit ainsi mon propre parcours de la pharmacie à l’anthropologie, situant les impasses rencontrées. In French-speaking Africa, the pioneers of the study of “traditional pharmacopoeias” were essentially military pharmacists, such as Joseph Kerharo in Senegal, Pierre Boiteau in Madagascar, Armand Bouquet in the Côte d'Ivoire or in the Congo, in connection with the laboratory founded by Portères. They explicitly intended to lay the foundations of an ethno-pharmacology rather than only the ethnobotanical part, because it focused on the preparation and administration of the pharmakon to treat disorders, “diseases”, and note solely on the plant raw materials. But the biological (etic) orientation has prevailed. These works say very little from the point of view of practitioners and patients (emic), which is the purpose of the study of health anthropology. A reversal of perspective such as the one operated by Marc Augé (1986) concerning the anthropology of illness has been attempted, proposing an anthropology of the remedy. It is a matter of going beyond the thoroughly discussed aporias by Tim Ingold (1992-2013) between cultural ecology and ecological anthropology, to attempt the alternative ecological anthropology he proposes, and working on the medicinal (pharmacological) properties of items as so many affordances selected in a given environment by a community of humans beings or animals. This article thus follows my own path from pharmacy to anthropology, and points out the deadlocks I have encountered.

This article presents the ancient Mesopotamian Mīs Pî ceremony as a case study in the relationship between ritual and the natural world using Roy Rappaport’s framework of Ecological Anthropology as a guide. Rappaport’s premise is that human populations do not operate independently but are instead, “ecological populations in an ecosystem that also includes the other living organisms and the nonliving substances found within the boundaries of [their] territory.” In Rappaport’s framework, rituals involving the use of animal, plant, and other organic materials link human communities to the ecosystems in which they dwell and to that which they seek to ritualize. Applying this mode of analysis to the Mīs Pî ritual yields the thesis that, from the perspective of the Mīs Pî, nature is integral to the ritual maintenance and well-being of the divine and human realms, and, in effect, the well-being of the cosmos.

Purpose of the study: To critically examine global discourse of development and it’s dismissive of indigenous environmental knowledge and role of international indigenism in giving space for debate on environmental politics. Based on case study of anti-POSCO movement in Odisha in India, it has tried to sort out dichotomy of openness to change in quality of life of local communities versus role of reactionary forces restricting development. Methodology: This study is a qualitative anthropological study among the tribal and local communities displaced in three villages by the POSCO project in Odisha. Modernisation theory of development was critically examined through the use of both primary and secondary data; interview, observation, Focus Group Discussion of the community, policy makers and activists and content analysis. Main findings: In India, modernization theory of development has pushed to the debate on the way of development “development from below” versus “development from above”. The anti-POSCO movement in Odisha reveals politics of truth; it’s just an extension of other popular movements and anti-development. The truth is of double edged, a confrontation of law of land versus rights of the people, and displacement of a section of population vs. development. Applications of this study: This paper will help create positive hypothesis that the legal industrialization can be legalised for the sake of poverty eradication and livelihood promotion governance. Industrialization is not hegemony of developed countries rather relevance for economic growth and reduction of poverty to meet MDGs in underdeveloped ones. Originality of this study: The theoretical issues raised are inter-disciplinary, pure economics of industry and economic growth, anthropology of modernization and philosophy of social facts and truth. It has also critically correlated the socio-cultural, environmental and agricultural basis of protest to industrialization. The methodology is fieldwork-based observation, interview and focus group discussion. Results have been analysed through dependent and independent variables in ecological anthropology.

Al tratar de disolver la neta separación entre una mente racional y la materia inerte abogada por el dualismo Cartesiano, el monismo lucha por reunificar estas distintas realidades ontológicas. Tal como para Claude Lévi-Strauss y Baruch Spinoza, esa dicha unificación no puede prescindir de la trascendencia de la mente humana como locus del pensamiento y conocimiento de la naturaleza externa. A través de una discusión entre las abstracciones de la etnología Amerindia (animismo-perspectivismo), las teorizaciones del estructuralismo y las relaciones que estos tienen con algunas especulaciones filosóficas occidentales, este artículo trata de analizar las intricadas interacciones humano-naturaleza entre los Shuar de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana. De esta forma, se argumenta que las realidades metafísicas de las experiencias oníricas y visionarias están ontológicamente determinadas por el grado de intensidad de contacto que los humanos establecen con las subjetividades materiales del ecosistema.

Based on a discussion of the theoretical contributions of Claude Lévi-Strauss and Pierre Clastres, this article explores social relationships as more than a human dimension. Though strongly analysed by both anthropologists, these relationships appear to involve indigenous societies’ whole ecological and cosmological system. In this sense, reciprocity, social cohesion, and exchange can be understood as material and immaterial interrelationships between entities of a more than a corporeal world. I argue, then, that to go beyond the mere anthropocentric conceptualisation of sociality in a nature good to think, we need to holistically conceive the interconnected levels of trophic, socio-structural and socio-cosmic relationships and exchanges between human and non-human beings in the ecosystem. Basado en una discusión de las contribuciones teóricas de Claude Lévi-Strauss y Pierre Clastres, este artículo explora las relaciones sociales como algo más que una dimensión humana. Aunque fuertemente analizadas por ambos antropólogos, estas relaciones parecen involucrar todo el sistema ecológico y cosmológico de las sociedades indígenas. En este sentido, la reciprocidad, la cohesión social y el intercambio pueden entenderse como interrelaciones materiales e inmateriales entre entidades de un mundo más que corpóreo. Sostengo, entonces, que, para ir más allá de la mera conceptualización antropocéntrica de la socialidad en una naturaleza buena para pensar, necesitamos concebir holísticamente los niveles interconectados de relaciones e intercambios tróficos, socio-estructurales y socio-cósmicos entre seres humanos y no humanos en el ecosistema.

If we play the game of a dechronologized biographical restitution of my research career, I can summarize it roughly as follows:I have made oases my laboratory in ethnoecology: understanding how societies organize themselves in environments with strong constraints. Do constraints force one way of building one’s world? Aiming at a comparative approach, I conducted a multisite field research with observations and analyses in various oases of the Sahara and Arabia. It appears that various registers of oasis praxis (socioecological registers, which can form resources), different ways of inhabiting and constructing the world, coexist within the different studied oases-laboratories. Moreover, different models of oases and palm groves can coexist within the same type of environment, which is a priori unfavorable to human life with severe ecological constraints (Saharan and Arabian deserts).From the study of the oasis agroecosystems, I derived an oasis model. I extracted then, for heuristic purposes, an element that is far from trivial: the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L. in binomial botanical classification). Besides a more global approach of the system formed by the collectives associating humans and non-humans in oases, I focused on this single date palm, which exists only in the sphere of humans, motivated by the conviction that by joining forces with colleagues in population genetics, I would be able to answer issues that would have remained unsolvable within the boundaries of my discipline. I explored notions of categorization of the living and in so doing bring together worlds with very different rationale (the DNA of biologists and the shape of date palm varieties grown in oasis gardens: the invention of the notion of “ethnovariety” ensued). I could also contribute to a history of the domestication of this plant and eventually to a history of oases.I put the oasis and date palm objects to the test of what I call my insular theory of oases, which takes up notions from landscape ecology (theoretical models of dispersion) and network theories. Ecological and anthropological conceptual tools such as functional connectivity or the “principle of the little but effective” derive from this theoretical reflection.To the ways of inhabiting and constructing the world (inherent approach to ethnoecology), I added the ways of being in the world, of knowing and acting on the world, with an anthropology of sensory perceptions, for proposing an enhanced ethnoecology. The ambition is to study the variety of sensory interactions that humans in society can establish with their environment. Despite a sensory equipment a priori common to all the representatives of the Homo sapiens species, there coexist ways of being in the world of an extraordinary heterogeneity because of culturally situated sensory learning. If the senses are the tools of knowledge of one’s environment and of action on it, the study of sensitivities, balances and sensory combinations privileged by humans in society, the in situ study of their sensory universes (sensorium) as well from a scientific point of view (etic) as in the perspective of its interlocutors (emic) on the ethnographic field should be integrated to ethnoecology.This interest in the sensory stems from a work in urban anthropology, which had Cairo as its urban fieldwork. I demonstrated the construction (in the constructivist meaning) of public spaces, including public gardens, and the evolution over the last decades of the practices that take place there and the qualities that are assigned to them. One sensory modality was prominent: the sonic dimension, without the local natural language being structured to make the experience of it communicable. Part of my research activity was devoted precisely to inventing tools to enable anthropology to grasp this dimension of the urban experience of the inhabitants, who are both sound receivers and producers.The Space Observatory of the CNES (French National Center for Space Studies) offered me the opportunity to invest the graviception as an object of research on the sensory: a limit-object, a quasi-universal unthought so much the variations of the terrestrial gravity are imperceptible to humans. The weightlessness, which until then belonged to the mythical narrative, to the mysticism or to the fiction, has, however, become the marker of this new extraterrestrial space invested by a little part of the humans. This “extraterrestrial” fieldwork is unique in that it takes us far from any reference known to humanity, and offers a definite and subversive disruption with the natural order of the world.A short time ago, I initiated a new model, a new (terrestrial) fieldwork: the Orezza Valley in Castagniccia, a singular region of Corsica. The project is to establish an anthropology of the (almost) close, an ethnoecology that relies on oasis experiences, informed by the sensory, informed by the genetic. The idea is to make on the model of the date palm a population genetics applied to the agrobiodiversity of the chestnut tree (Castanea sativa Mill. in binomial botanical classification), also an engineering species, in this case of the chestnut agroecosystem, a declining one. At the same time, the project draws on historical demography and village genealogies (over two centuries) and cadastral land evolution (over a century).This dissertation may seem unusual: a non-linear dissertation. It takes the form of an intimate and notional dictionary. As a reflexive exercise, this dissertation begins with a very autobiographical “self-definition” and continues with some forty somewhat arbitrary notional entries. Through this analytical approach, I hope to clarify issues, in this case anthropological ones, by examining and clarifying the language used to formulate them, with the ambition of shedding light on the path(s) I am taking and demonstrating the coherence of the whole.; Si l’on se prête au jeu d’une restitution biographique déchronologisée de mon parcours de recherche, je peux le résumer grossièrement comme suit :J’ai fait des oasis mon laboratoire d’ethnoécologie : comprendre comment les sociétés s’organisent dans des environnements à fortes contraintes. Les contraintes obligent-elles à une façon univoque de construire son monde ? Visant une approche comparative, j’ai mené une recherche de terrain multisite avec observations et analyses dans différentes oasis du Sahara et d’Arabie. Il appert que coexistent différents registres de la praxis oasienne (registres socioécologiques, qui peuvent former des ressources), différentes manières d’habiter et de construire le monde, coexistent au sein des différentes oasis-laboratoires étudiées. De plus, différents modèles d’oasis et de palmeraies peuvent coexister au sein d’un même type d’environnement, a priori défavorable à la vie humaine avec de fortes contraintes écologiques (déserts sahariens et arabiques).De l’étude des agroécosystèmes oasiens, j’ai déduit un modèle d’oasis. J’en ai extrait, à des fins heuristiques, un élément loin d’être anodin : le palmier dattier (Phoenix dactylifera L. en classification botanique binomiale). En sus d’une approche globale du système formé par les collectifs associant humains et non-humains dans les oasis, je me suis concentré sur ce seul palmier dattier, qui n’existe que dans la sphère des humains, motivé par la conviction qu’en m’associant à des collègues tenants de la génétique des populations, je pourrai répondre à des questions qui seraient restées insolubles dans les strictes frontières de ma discipline. J’ai exploré les notions de catégorisation du vivant et, ce faisant, rapproché des mondes aux rationalités très différentes (l’ADN des biologistes et la forme des variétés de palmiers dattiers cultivés dans les jardins des oasis : en découle l’invention de la notion d’« éthnovariété »). Je pouvais aussi contribuer à une histoire de la domestication de cette plante et peut-être à une histoire des oasis.J’ai soumis les objets oasis et palmiers dattiers à l’épreuve de ce que j’ai appelé ma théorie insulaire des oasis, qui reprend des notions de l’écologie du paysage (modèles théoriques de dispersion) et les théories des réseaux. De cette réflexion théorique découlent des outils conceptuels écologiques et anthropologiques tels que la connectivité fonctionnelle ou le « principe du peu mais efficace ».Aux manières d’habiter et de construire le monde (approche inhérente à l’ethnoécologie), j’ai ajouté les manières d’être au monde, de connaître et d’agir sur le monde, avec une anthropologie des perceptions sensorielles, dans la perspective de proposer une ethnoécologie augmentée. L’ambition est d’étudier la variété des interactions sensorielles que les humains en société peuvent tisser avec leur environnement. Malgré un équipement sensoriel a priori commun à tous les représentants de l’espèce Homo sapiens, il coexiste des manières d’être au monde d’une extraordinaire hétérogénéité du fait d’apprentissages sensoriels culturellement situés. Si les sens sont les moyens de connaissance de son environnement et d’action sur celui-ci, il convient d’intégrer à l’ethnoécologie l’étude des sensibilités, des balances et des combinaisons sensorielles privilégiées par les humains en société, l’étude en situation de leurs univers sensoriels (sensorium) tant d’un point de vue de la science (etic) que dans la perspective de ses interlocuteurs (emic) sur le terrain ethnographique.Cet intérêt pour le sensoriel est issu d’un travail en anthropologie urbaine, qui avait pour terrain l’urbain arabe du Caire. J’y ai démontré la construction (au sens constructiviste) des espaces publics, y compris les jardins publics, et l’évolution au cours des dernières décennies des pratiques qui y prennent place et des qualités qui leur sont assignées. Une modalité sensorielle se révélait saillante : la dimension sonore, sans que le langage naturel local soit clairement structuré pour en rendre dicible l’expérience. Une part de mon activité de recherche fut consacrée justement à inventer des outils pour permettre à l’anthropologie de se saisir de cette dimension de l’expérience urbaine des habitants, à la fois récepteurs et producteurs sonores.L’Observatoire spatial du CNES m’a offert l’opportunité d’investir la graviception comme objet de recherche sur le sensoriel : un objet-limite, un quasi-impensé universel tant les variations de la gravité terrestre sont imperceptibles pour les humains. L’apesanteur, qui relevait jusqu’alors du récit mythique, de la mystique ou de la fiction, est pourtant devenue le marqueur de ce nouvel espace extraterrestre investi par un peu des humains. Ce travail de terrain « extraterrestre » est unique qu’il nous emmène loin de toute référence connue par l’humanité, et offre une rupture certaine et subversive avec l’ordre naturel du monde.J’ai initié il y a peu de temps un nouveau modèle, un nouveau travail de terrain (terrestre) : la vallée d’Orezza en Castagniccia, une région singulière de la Corse. Le projet est d’établir une anthropologie du (presque) proche, une ethnoécologie qui prend appui sur les expériences oasiennes, informée par le sensoriel, informée par la génétique. L’idée est de faire sur le modèle du palmier dattier une génétique des populations appliquée à l’agrobiodiversité du châtaignier (Castanea sativa Mill. en classification botanique binomiale), également une espèce ingénieure, en l’occurrence de l’agroécosystème du châtaignier, en déprise. Dans le même temps, le projet s’appuie sur une démographie historique et des généalogies villageoises (sur deux siècles) et l’évolution foncière cadastrale (sur un siècle).Ce mémoire peut paraître inhabituel : un mémoire non linéaire. Il prend la forme d’un dictionnaire intime et notionnel. En tant qu’exercice réflexif, ce mémoire débute par une « définition de soi » très autobiographique et se poursuit par une quarantaine d’entrées notionnelles quelque peu arbitraires. Par cette démarche analytique, j’espère éclaircir les problèmes, ici anthropologiques, en examinant et clarifiant le langage dont on se sert pour les formuler, avec l’ambition d’éclairer la ou les voies que j’emprunte et faire la démonstration de la cohérence de l’ensemble.

The Global Ecovillage Network (GEN) draws upon an array of purposive design principles, practices and processes to inform sustainable ways of living. In this thesis, I examine systems perspectives in ecological anthropology and draw upon interdisciplinary insights in cultural theory, systems ecology and environmental sociology to inform human-ecological systems thinking. I investigate how systems thinking manifests in GEN literature, in a comparative context to some of the movement’s educational practices. I consider how purposive design counters prevailing systems perspectives in ecological anthropology, and explore what types of structures, typologies and characteristics it presents. I consider GENs central tenant of Whole Systems Design, and what I describe as ‘human ecology by design’. I argue that GEN embodies environmental actor and sustainability educator, seeking to build capacity for systems resilience and transformation. I suggest that a ‘collective’ unit of analysis requires further investigation s an analytical framework for systems perspective in ecological anthropology. It remains to be seen whether the Global Ecovillage Network is effective in building capacity for systems change, or whether their systems focus is at best strategic. Keywords: global ecovillage network, purposive systems, whole systems design, adaptive strategy, human-ecological relations.

This ethnographic research identifies and describes ways of life that present themselves as alternatives, or refuges for "living in the ruins of capitalism" according to Ana Tsing. The fieldwork involved interviews with 40 people, followed by two detailed ethnographic study cases. The research findings show that these people, who were born and/or grew up in large urban centers, have gone through ecological life transitions that influence their entire lifestyle including their spiritual beliefs, health practices, food, and the construction of their homes. I classify these transitions as processes of ontological transition, in which an ecological worldview stands as the primary lens of understanding one's own being and its relationship to the world. The results indicate that these transitions are continuous, and always carry with them previous elements of the perception of life and of the person before the transition process. As in a spiral, a new lifestyle takes shape as dualities such as mind/body and nature/culture are collapsed; as the impermanence of things and life as an eternal becoming is understood; as concepts such as health, spirituality, and ecology merge; as life is understood to emerge from the encounter between different lines of movement of beings and materials. The emergence of the covid-19 pandemic during the course of the fieldwork reinforced the need for the creation of refuges inspired by other ecologies in order to make the Anthropocene as brief as possible. Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES Esta pesquisa, de abordagem etnográfica, identifica e descreve modos de vida que se apresentam como alternativas, ou refúgios, para “viver nas ruínas do capitalismo”, como diz Ana Tsing. O trabalho de campo envolveu entrevistas com 40 pessoas, seguido pelo trabalho etnográfico detalhado com duas interlocutoras. A pesquisa apontou que estas pessoas, que nasceram e/ou cresceram em grandes centros urbanos, passaram por transições ecológicas de vida que influenciam todo seu estilo de vida, incluindo suas crenças espirituais, práticas de saúde, de alimentação e da construção de suas casas. Classifico estas transições como processos de mudança ontológica, na qual uma visão de mundo ecológica se coloca como lente principal de entendimento do próprio ser e de sua relação com o mundo ao redor. Os resultados apontam que estas transições são contínuas, e carregam sempre consigo elementos da percepção de vida e da pessoa de antes do processo da transição. Como em uma espiral, um novo estilo de vida ganha forma na medida em que dualidades como mente/corpo e natureza/cultura são colapsadas; em que se entende a impermanência das coisas e a vida como um eterno devir; em que conceitos como saúde, espiritualidade e ecologia se fundem; em que se entende que a vida emerge do encontro entre diferentes linhas de movimento de seres e materiais. A emergência da pandemia da covid-19 durante a realização do trabalho de campo reforçou a necessidade da criação de refúgios inspirados em outras ecologias para que os tempos do Antropoceno seja o mais breve possível.

This entry begins by reviewing the definitions of “human”, “environment” and “dichotomy”, consequently turning to the debates concerning the human–environment relationship. Synthesizing various studies, the capability of advanced tool use; language, hyper-sociality, advanced cognition, morality, civilization, technology, and free will are supposed to be distinctly human. However, other studies describe how nonhuman organisms share these same abilities. The biophysical or natural environment is often associated with all living and non-living things that occur naturally. The environment also refers to ecosystems or habitats, including all living organisms or species. The concepts of the biophysical or natural environment are often opposed to the concepts of built or modified environment, which is artificial - constructed or influenced by humans. The built or modified environment typically refers to structures or spaces from gardens to car parks. Today, one of the central questions in regard to human-environment dichotomies centres around the concept of sustainability. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9781118924396 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/

The article explores the particularly lively rooftops of Cairo through which interspecies intimacies unfold. On these rooftops, various animals (such as chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, goats and rabbits) are raised to be later eaten and consumed for sustenance. I expose the various patterned modalities, terms and codes bringing these different species together in their sustained long-term relationships. I follow these interspecies relations as they narrate wonders of life and death, collaborations, various instantiations of home, social gift exchanges, marital rituals and grieving patterns. Rooftop recipes for relating slowly cook these human-non-human relations as uniquely embedded in a socioecological intricate awareness of surrounding environments of neighbours and families, but also of trees, waste, changing seasons, aging species and growing parents.

The Cultural Trade Index aims to shed light on cultural trade and stimulate interest in how this little-known area can contribute to economic diversification, boost shared prosperity, and reduce extreme poverty. As the first index of its kind, the Cultural Trade Index would gather cultural trade data scattered across different sources, place them in one place, and show how countries are performing. The key objective is to help inform decision making to advance cultural trade for development. Since culture is not restricted to monetary gain, a Cultural Exchange Index could also be created to complement the Cultural Trade Index. The Cultural Exchange Index would rank countries according to their participation in international cultural exchanges. Comprehensive research efforts would be needed for these ideas to make meaningful contributions to cultural trade and development policy.

In our paper “Coupled Human and Natural Systems” (Liu et al. 2007), we developed a timely, theoretical, and practical foundation for research on Coupled Human And Natural Systems (CHANS). The science of CHANS builds upon, but goes beyond previous research that linked humans and ecosystems (e.g., ecological anthropology, environmental geography, human ecology). CHANS science uses a holistic perspective to integrate patterns and processes that connect human and natural systems, as well as within-scale and cross-scale interactions and feedbacks between human and natural components of such systems (Fig. 1). Such an integrated framework is needed to understand the increased complexity of the Anthropocene and develop innovative solutions to unprecedented global challenges. Open in a separate window Fig. 1 A schematic diagram of a coupled human and natural system. Arrows show interactions and feedbacks. (courtesy of Vanessa Hull.)

Esta tese foi desenvolvida para perceber como a imagem ativa os pontos de vista das pessoas nas roças de São Tomé. A partir de conjuntos de imagens, narrativas visuais, foi possível observar como os santomenses interpretam a vida, seus saberes e suas histórias. As narrativas foram montadas para funcionar como experiências de interações entre corpos, lugares e imagens. Os recursos utilizados foram o Jogo da Memória, o Cinema na Roça, o Círculo Cultural e o Museu das Invasões, além de uma exposição fotográfica. Todos eles se conectam e contribuem para a prática de uma Antropologia ecológica com as pessoas, além de terem sido elaborados enquanto visualidade de resistência à modernidade. Em dois meses junto com as pessoas de São Tomé, fomos moldando a metodologia e a teoria de acordo com cada atividade, revisitando a história colonial, reconhecendo aspectos culturais da ilha, redefinindo conceitos como liberdade, tempo, conhecimento e memória. As reflexões decorrentes trazem a ideia da roça/comunidade, ou simplesmente comunidade, como categorias nativas que ressituam a roça e a empresa agrícola. Neste cenário, o "leveleve" salta como um estilo de vida santomense, no qual a categoria "futuro" é inexistente como parte do dia a dia e da história. Por fim, esta tese chama a atenção para o poder das imagens na tessitura dos discursos e para a necessidade constante de presentificar a diversidade de vozes e visualidades nas narrativas, constituindo-se, portanto, como projeto que continua em outras publicações digitais, alimentadas ao longo da vida, em diálogo e transformações. This thesis was developed to understand how image activates the points of view of people in the plantation estates (Roças) of Sao Tome. From sets of images, visual narratives, it was possible to observe how the Sao Tomeans interpret life, their knowledge and their stories. The narratives were set up to function as experiences of interactions between bodies, places and images. The resources used were the Memory Game, the Cinema in the Roca, the Cultural Circle and the Museum of Invasions, in addition to a photographic exhibition. All of them connect and contribute to the practice of an ecological Anthropology with people, in addition to being elaborated as a visuality of resistance to modernity. In two months together with the people of Sao Tome, we shaped the methodology and theory according to each activity, revisiting colonial history, recognizing cultural aspects of the island, redefining concepts such as freedom, time, knowledge and memory. The resulting reflections bring the idea of the rocas / community or, simply, community as native categories that re-situate the roca and the agriculture company. In this scenario, the "leve-leve" stands out like a Santomean lifestyle, in which the category future does not exist as part of everyday life and history. Finally, this thesis brings attention to the power of images in the tessitura of discourses and to the constant need to make present the diversity of voices and visualities in the narratives, thus constituting itself as a project that continues in other digital publications, updated along the years, in dialogue and transformations.

Gli Shuar fanno parte del gruppo etnico Jivaro (attualmente Aents Chicham), di cui fanno parte: gli Shuar, Achuar, Awajun, Shiwiar e Wampis. Nella presente presentazione cercherò di illustrare quanto sia importante per questa società le esperienze visionarie. Le visione, dunque, dipendono da una profonda relazione con la natura corporea e le diverse entità che ne fanno parte. Per questo motivo la costante ricerca spirituale di arutam è fortemente legata alla dimensione sacra di una natura pensante e trasformativa.

If we play the game of a dechronologized biographical restitution of my research career, I can summarize it roughly as follows:I have made oases my laboratory in ethnoecology: understanding how societies organize themselves in environments with strong constraints. Do constraints force one way of building one’s world? Aiming at a comparative approach, I conducted a multisite field research with observations and analyses in various oases of the Sahara and Arabia. It appears that various registers of oasis praxis (socioecological registers, which can form resources), different ways of inhabiting and constructing the world, coexist within the different studied oases-laboratories. Moreover, different models of oases and palm groves can coexist within the same type of environment, which is a priori unfavorable to human life with severe ecological constraints (Saharan and Arabian deserts).From the study of the oasis agroecosystems, I derived an oasis model. I extracted then, for heuristic purposes, an element that is far from trivial: the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L. in binomial botanical classification). Besides a more global approach of the system formed by the collectives associating humans and non-humans in oases, I focused on this single date palm, which exists only in the sphere of humans, motivated by the conviction that by joining forces with colleagues in population genetics, I would be able to answer issues that would have remained unsolvable within the boundaries of my discipline. I explored notions of categorization of the living and in so doing bring together worlds with very different rationale (the DNA of biologists and the shape of date palm varieties grown in oasis gardens: the invention of the notion of “ethnovariety” ensued). I could also contribute to a history of the domestication of this plant and eventually to a history of oases.I put the oasis and date palm objects to the test of what I call my insular theory of oases, which takes up notions from landscape ecology (theoretical models of dispersion) and network theories. Ecological and anthropological conceptual tools such as functional connectivity or the “principle of the little but effective” derive from this theoretical reflection.To the ways of inhabiting and constructing the world (inherent approach to ethnoecology), I added the ways of being in the world, of knowing and acting on the world, with an anthropology of sensory perceptions, for proposing an enhanced ethnoecology. The ambition is to study the variety of sensory interactions that humans in society can establish with their environment. Despite a sensory equipment a priori common to all the representatives of the Homo sapiens species, there coexist ways of being in the world of an extraordinary heterogeneity because of culturally situated sensory learning. If the senses are the tools of knowledge of one’s environment and of action on it, the study of sensitivities, balances and sensory combinations privileged by humans in society, the in situ study of their sensory universes (sensorium) as well from a scientific point of view (etic) as in the perspective of its interlocutors (emic) on the ethnographic field should be integrated to ethnoecology.This interest in the sensory stems from a work in urban anthropology, which had Cairo as its urban fieldwork. I demonstrated the construction (in the constructivist meaning) of public spaces, including public gardens, and the evolution over the last decades of the practices that take place there and the qualities that are assigned to them. One sensory modality was prominent: the sonic dimension, without the local natural language being structured to make the experience of it communicable. Part of my research activity was devoted precisely to inventing tools to enable anthropology to grasp this dimension of the urban experience of the inhabitants, who are both sound receivers and producers.The Space Observatory of the CNES (French National Center for Space Studies) offered me the opportunity to invest the graviception as an object of research on the sensory: a limit-object, a quasi-universal unthought so much the variations of the terrestrial gravity are imperceptible to humans. The weightlessness, which until then belonged to the mythical narrative, to the mysticism or to the fiction, has, however, become the marker of this new extraterrestrial space invested by a little part of the humans. This “extraterrestrial” fieldwork is unique in that it takes us far from any reference known to humanity, and offers a definite and subversive disruption with the natural order of the world.A short time ago, I initiated a new model, a new (terrestrial) fieldwork: the Orezza Valley in Castagniccia, a singular region of Corsica. The project is to establish an anthropology of the (almost) close, an ethnoecology that relies on oasis experiences, informed by the sensory, informed by the genetic. The idea is to make on the model of the date palm a population genetics applied to the agrobiodiversity of the chestnut tree (Castanea sativa Mill. in binomial botanical classification), also an engineering species, in this case of the chestnut agroecosystem, a declining one. At the same time, the project draws on historical demography and village genealogies (over two centuries) and cadastral land evolution (over a century).This dissertation may seem unusual: a non-linear dissertation. It takes the form of an intimate and notional dictionary. As a reflexive exercise, this dissertation begins with a very autobiographical “self-definition” and continues with some forty somewhat arbitrary notional entries. Through this analytical approach, I hope to clarify issues, in this case anthropological ones, by examining and clarifying the language used to formulate them, with the ambition of shedding light on the path(s) I am taking and demonstrating the coherence of the whole., Si l’on se prête au jeu d’une restitution biographique déchronologisée de mon parcours de recherche, je peux le résumer grossièrement comme suit :J’ai fait des oasis mon laboratoire d’ethnoécologie : comprendre comment les sociétés s’organisent dans des environnements à fortes contraintes. Les contraintes obligent-elles à une façon univoque de construire son monde ? Visant une approche comparative, j’ai mené une recherche de terrain multisite avec observations et analyses dans différentes oasis du Sahara et d’Arabie. Il appert que coexistent différents registres de la praxis oasienne (registres socioécologiques, qui peuvent former des ressources), différentes manières d’habiter et de construire le monde, coexistent au sein des différentes oasis-laboratoires étudiées. De plus, différents modèles d’oasis et de palmeraies peuvent coexister au sein d’un même type d’environnement, a priori défavorable à la vie humaine avec de fortes contraintes écologiques (déserts sahariens et arabiques).De l’étude des agroécosystèmes oasiens, j’ai déduit un modèle d’oasis. J’en ai extrait, à des fins heuristiques, un élément loin d’être anodin : le palmier dattier (Phoenix dactylifera L. en classification botanique binomiale). En sus d’une approche globale du système formé par les collectifs associant humains et non-humains dans les oasis, je me suis concentré sur ce seul palmier dattier, qui n’existe que dans la sphère des humains, motivé par la conviction qu’en m’associant à des collègues tenants de la génétique des populations, je pourrai répondre à des questions qui seraient restées insolubles dans les strictes frontières de ma discipline. J’ai exploré les notions de catégorisation du vivant et, ce faisant, rapproché des mondes aux rationalités très différentes (l’ADN des biologistes et la forme des variétés de palmiers dattiers cultivés dans les jardins des oasis : en découle l’invention de la notion d’« éthnovariété »). Je pouvais aussi contribuer à une histoire de la domestication de cette plante et peut-être à une histoire des oasis.J’ai soumis les objets oasis et palmiers dattiers à l’épreuve de ce que j’ai appelé ma théorie insulaire des oasis, qui reprend des notions de l’écologie du paysage (modèles théoriques de dispersion) et les théories des réseaux. De cette réflexion théorique découlent des outils conceptuels écologiques et anthropologiques tels que la connectivité fonctionnelle ou le « principe du peu mais efficace ».Aux manières d’habiter et de construire le monde (approche inhérente à l’ethnoécologie), j’ai ajouté les manières d’être au monde, de connaître et d’agir sur le monde, avec une anthropologie des perceptions sensorielles, dans la perspective de proposer une ethnoécologie augmentée. L’ambition est d’étudier la variété des interactions sensorielles que les humains en société peuvent tisser avec leur environnement. Malgré un équipement sensoriel a priori commun à tous les représentants de l’espèce Homo sapiens, il coexiste des manières d’être au monde d’une extraordinaire hétérogénéité du fait d’apprentissages sensoriels culturellement situés. Si les sens sont les moyens de connaissance de son environnement et d’action sur celui-ci, il convient d’intégrer à l’ethnoécologie l’étude des sensibilités, des balances et des combinaisons sensorielles privilégiées par les humains en société, l’étude en situation de leurs univers sensoriels (sensorium) tant d’un point de vue de la science (etic) que dans la perspective de ses interlocuteurs (emic) sur le terrain ethnographique.Cet intérêt pour le sensoriel est issu d’un travail en anthropologie urbaine, qui avait pour terrain l’urbain arabe du Caire. J’y ai démontré la construction (au sens constructiviste) des espaces publics, y compris les jardins publics, et l’évolution au cours des dernières décennies des pratiques qui y prennent place et des qualités qui leur sont assignées. Une modalité sensorielle se révélait saillante : la dimension sonore, sans que le langage naturel local soit clairement structuré pour en rendre dicible l’expérience. Une part de mon activité de recherche fut consacrée justement à inventer des outils pour permettre à l’anthropologie de se saisir de cette dimension de l’expérience urbaine des habitants, à la fois récepteurs et producteurs sonores.L’Observatoire spatial du CNES m’a offert l’opportunité d’investir la graviception comme objet de recherche sur le sensoriel : un objet-limite, un quasi-impensé universel tant les variations de la gravité terrestre sont imperceptibles pour les humains. L’apesanteur, qui relevait jusqu’alors du récit mythique, de la mystique ou de la fiction, est pourtant devenue le marqueur de ce nouvel espace extraterrestre investi par un peu des humains. Ce travail de terrain « extraterrestre » est unique qu’il nous emmène loin de toute référence connue par l’humanité, et offre une rupture certaine et subversive avec l’ordre naturel du monde.J’ai initié il y a peu de temps un nouveau modèle, un nouveau travail de terrain (terrestre) : la vallée d’Orezza en Castagniccia, une région singulière de la Corse. Le projet est d’établir une anthropologie du (presque) proche, une ethnoécologie qui prend appui sur les expériences oasiennes, informée par le sensoriel, informée par la génétique. L’idée est de faire sur le modèle du palmier dattier une génétique des populations appliquée à l’agrobiodiversité du châtaignier (Castanea sativa Mill. en classification botanique binomiale), également une espèce ingénieure, en l’occurrence de l’agroécosystème du châtaignier, en déprise. Dans le même temps, le projet s’appuie sur une démographie historique et des généalogies villageoises (sur deux siècles) et l’évolution foncière cadastrale (sur un siècle).Ce mémoire peut paraître inhabituel : un mémoire non linéaire. Il prend la forme d’un dictionnaire intime et notionnel. En tant qu’exercice réflexif, ce mémoire débute par une « définition de soi » très autobiographique et se poursuit par une quarantaine d’entrées notionnelles quelque peu arbitraires. Par cette démarche analytique, j’espère éclaircir les problèmes, ici anthropologiques, en examinant et clarifiant le langage dont on se sert pour les formuler, avec l’ambition d’éclairer la ou les voies que j’emprunte et faire la démonstration de la cohérence de l’ensemble.

Human behavior and physiology evolved under conditions vastly different from those which most humans inhabit today. This paper summarizes long-term dietary studies conducted on contemporary hunter-gatherer populations (sometimes referred to as foragers). Selected studies for the most part that use evolutionary theoretical perspectives and data collection methods derived from the academic field of human behavioral ecology, which derives relatively recently from the fields of evolutionary biology, ethology, population biology and ecological anthropology. I demonstrate how this body of research illuminates ancestral patterns of food production, consumption and sharing, infant feeding, and juvenile subsistence contributions in hunter-gatherer economies. Insights from hunter-gatherer studies are then briefly discussed within the context of better-studied human populations that are Westernized, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD).