The following quotes come from John Steinbeck’s The Log from the Sea of Cortez (co-written, supposedly, with Ed Ricketts, but he is not credited on my edition): “… the Mexican sierra has ‘XVII-15-IX’ spines in the dorsal fin. These can easily be counted. But if the sierra strikes hard on the line so that our [...]
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Last week I wrote an exam on the topic of the anthropology of environmental knowledge, broadly defined. This included sections on both traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and scientific knowledge about the environment, and it also involved thinking about ways of reconciling them as they often conflict with one another. I have yet to see my [...]
Today I’m reading the chapter from Helmreich’s Alien Ocean on aquatic invasive species (AIS) in Hawaii. In the chapter, he discusses the politically charged climate in which the issue of invasive species has become entangled in Hawaii. At stake is the definition of “native” versus “alien” in a place where to be “native” carries a [...]
The following is the text of the talk I gave today at the Society for Cultural Anthropology biannual meeting. Together with the AnthroPlus talk I gave back in March titled “The Anthropological Thought” this constitutes the article I’ll be submitting to O-Zone (pending some revision to reconcile the two parts and fill in the gaps). [...]
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
From Anti-Oedipus: “… [W]e make no distinction between man and nature: the human essence of nature and the natural essence of man become one within nature in the form of production or industry, just as they do within the life of man as a species. Industry is then no longer considered from the extrinsic point [...]
An interesting video to encounter fresh back from a 2-day camping trip in the mountains of West Virginia! Many of you have probably seen this before – I think I may have, but don’t recall where or when. I agree in some sense with his analysis of ecology as ideology – that in order to [...]
Last Thursday, I gave a presentation at the SfAA conference in a panel organized around environmental anthropology of the Chesapeake Bay. My talk was on the research I’ve been doing on the bloodworm industry, and the threat of invasive species being introduced to the Mid-Atlantic from their packing materials. The prezi is below if you [...]
