Culture and Conservation

Eleanor Shoreman-Ouimet is an environmental anthropologist and currently teaches in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Connecticut, USA. Her research focuses on human-environment interactions, cross-cultural conservation practices, community response to natural hazards and the effects of climate change.Helen Kopnina is currently lecturer in anthropology and development and environmental anthropology at the Leiden University, the Netherlands. She is also a coordinator and lecturer of Sustainable Business program and researcher in the fields of environmental education and environmental social sciences at The Hague University of Applied Science, the Netherlands.

• Introduction 1. Exploring human-nature dualism and the history of the environment in anthropology 2. The Social Construction of Nature 3. Mainstream Conservation and Alternative Environmentalism 4. Communities and Conservation 5. Debates over Incentive-based Conservation Programs 6. Environmental Ethics and Rights for Human and Non-human Species 7. Environmental Justice and Democratic Legitimacy 8. Sustaining the Unsustainable: Debates over Development, Population and Consumption 9. Education for Environment's Sake 10. Attempting Reconciliation and Moving Forward

"The authors’ stands are moderate and reasonable, and above all well-considered, and as such make very important contributions to the literature—especially within anthropology, where emotion and reaction have substituted for thought in most of the controversial and critical literature. The world needs this book."–Eugene N. Anderson, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at the University of California Riverside, USA"This courageous and thoughtful volume encourages all of us to relocate humankind within a shared multispecies world, recognizing the interdependence of all living beings and the ethical and practical problems raised by anthropocentricity. Challenging long-held assumptions about conservation, it leads the reader persuasively towards a more equal valorization of cultural and biological diversity."–Veronica Strang, Durham University, UK"Biologists are troubled by the "social construction of nature" argument because the nature they study is so obviously concrete, interesting, and valuable for its own sake. Finally, with this book, we have social scientists vigorously critiquing narrow anthropocentrism and bemoaning its inevitable consequence, biotic impoverishment. It is a delight to read anthropologists who cherish the intrinsic value of nonhuman life."–Reed F. Noss, University of Central Florida, USA"Culture and Conservation reflects such disagreements but also aims to bring the antagonistic positions closer together in more constructive debates. The authors present a critical perspective on anthropocentric approaches to conservation and plead for an expanded environmental ethics, ecological justice and recognition of the rights of nonhuman species."- Dik Roth, Human Ecology