Roy Ellen is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and Human Ecology at the University of Kent, where he initiated the programmes in environmental anthropology and ethnobotany, and founded the Centre for Biocultural Diversity. His recent books include On the Edge of the Banda Zone (2003), Nuaulu Religious Practices (2012), and Kinship, Population and Social Reproduction in the 'New Indonesia' (2018).

• List of IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsNote on OrthographyIntroduction: Nature Beyond the 'Ontological Turn'Chapter 1. What Black Elk Left UnsaidChapter 2. Comparative Natures in MelanesiaChapter 3. Political Contingency, Historical Ecology, and the Renegotiation of NatureChapter 4. Indigenous Environmental Knowledge and its TransformationsChapter 5. From Ethno-science to ScienceChapter 6. Local and Scientific Understandings of Forest DiversityChapter 7. Why Aren't the Nuaulu Like the Matsigenka?Chapter 8. Roots, Shoots and Leaves - The Art of WeedingChapter 9. Tools, Agency and the Category of 'Living Things'Chapter 10. Is There a Role for Ontologies in Understanding Plant Knowledge Systems?ReferencesIndex

"An important topic from a much-appreciated scholar". Carole Crumley, Swedish Agricultural University and Uppsala University"This is a timely and important contribution that brings together in a single volume a collection of essays that represents the thinking of one of environmental anthropology's most consistent and influential voices across an entire range of issues". Miguel Alexiades, University of Kent