Cultural Forests Of The Amazon

Author : William Balée
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2013-08-20
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780817317867

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Cultural Forests of the Amazon by William Balée Pdf

Winner of the Society for Economic Botany's Mary W. Klinger Book Award. Cultural Forests of the Amazon is a comprehensive and diverse account of how indigenous people transformed landscapes and managed resources in the most extensive region of tropical forests in the world. Until recently, most scholars and scientists, as well as the general public, thought indigenous people had a minimal impact on Amazon forests, once considered to be total wildernesses. William Balée’s research, conducted over a span of three decades, shows a more complicated truth. In Cultural Forests of the Amazon, he argues that indigenous people, past and present, have time and time again profoundly transformed nature into culture. Moreover, they have done so using their traditional knowledge and technology developed over thousands of years. Balée demonstrates the inestimable value of indigenous knowledge in providing guideposts for a potentially less destructive future for environments and biota in the Amazon. He shows that we can no longer think about species and landscape diversity in any tropical forest without taking into account the intricacies of human history and the impact of all forms of knowledge and technology. Balée describes the development of his historical ecology approach in Amazonia, along with important material on little-known forest dwellers and their habitats, current thinking in Amazonian historical ecology, and a narrative of his own dialogue with the Amazon and its people.

Author : William Balée
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2023-05-23
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780817321574

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Sowing the Forest by William Balée Pdf

Explores how, over centuries, Amazonian people and their cultures have interacted with rainforests William Balée is a world-renowned expert on the cultural and historical ecology of the Amazon basin. His new collection, Sowing the Forest, is a companion volume to the award-winning Cultural Forests of the Amazon, published in 2013. Sowing the Forest engages in depth with how, over centuries, Amazonian people and their cultures have interacted with rainforests, making the landscapes of palm forests and other kinds of forests, and how these and related forests have fed back into the vocabulary and behavior of current indigenous occupants of the remotest parts of the vast hinterlands. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1, “Substrate of Intentionality,” comprises chapters on historical ecology, indigenous palm forests, plant names in Amazonia, the origins of the Amazonian plantain, and the unknown “Dark Earth people” of thousands of years ago and their landscaping. Together these chapters illustrate the phenomenon of feedback between culture and environment. In Part 2, “Scope of Transformation,” Balée lays out his theory of landscape transformation, which he divides into two rubrics—primary landscape transformation and secondary landscape transformation—and for which he provides examples and various specific effects. One chapter compares environmental and social interrelationships in an Orang Asli group in Malaysia and the Ka’apor people of eastern Amazonian Brazil, and another chapter covers loss of language and culture in the Bolivian Amazon. A final chapter addresses the controversial topic of monumentality in the rainforest. Balée concludes by emphasizing the common thread in Amazonian historical ecology: the long-term phenomenon of encouraging diversity for its own sake, not just for economic reasons.

Author : William Balée
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2013-08-20
Category : Education
ISBN : 9780817317867

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Cultural Forests of the Amazon by William Balée Pdf

Winner of the Society for Economic Botany's Mary W. Klinger Book Award. Cultural Forests of the Amazon is a comprehensive and diverse account of how indigenous people transformed landscapes and managed resources in the most extensive region of tropical forests in the world. Until recently, most scholars and scientists, as well as the general public, thought indigenous people had a minimal impact on Amazon forests, once considered to be total wildernesses. William Balée’s research, conducted over a span of three decades, shows a more complicated truth. In Cultural Forests of the Amazon, he argues that indigenous people, past and present, have time and time again profoundly transformed nature into culture. Moreover, they have done so using their traditional knowledge and technology developed over thousands of years. Balée demonstrates the inestimable value of indigenous knowledge in providing guideposts for a potentially less destructive future for environments and biota in the Amazon. He shows that we can no longer think about species and landscape diversity in any tropical forest without taking into account the intricacies of human history and the impact of all forms of knowledge and technology. Balée describes the development of his historical ecology approach in Amazonia, along with important material on little-known forest dwellers and their habitats, current thinking in Amazonian historical ecology, and a narrative of his own dialogue with the Amazon and its people.

Author : Lúcia Sá
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2004
Category : Acculturation
ISBN : 1452906777

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Rain Forest Literatures by Lúcia Sá Pdf

Author : Colin McEwan,Cristiana Barreto,Eduardo Neves
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 312 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2001
Category : Art
ISBN : UVA:X006126308

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Unknown Amazon by Colin McEwan,Cristiana Barreto,Eduardo Neves Pdf

Unknown Amazon offers a bold new approach towards understanding the antiquity and complexity of tropical forest civilisation in the Amazon Basin. It opens new perspectives on Amazonian Indian societies, both past and present.

Author : Patricia Gualinga,Laura Resau
Publisher : Charlesbridge Publishing
Page : 35 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2023-07-18
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN : 9781632895967

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Stand as Tall as the Trees by Patricia Gualinga,Laura Resau Pdf

An inspiring true story about how an activist in the Amazon worked with other Indigenous communities to protect and preserve their sacred lands and forests. Patricia (Paty) Gualinga grew up in her Kichwa village in the Amazon of Ecuador where mystical beings called Amazanga help protect the forest. Paty traveled away from home for school until she was called back—companies that said the government sold them property were destroying her people’s lands to look for oil. The Kichwa community worked with other Indigenous groups to bring the Ecuadorian government to the Court of Human Rights. Lyrically told and beautifully illustrated, this moving story will remind readers of the importance of nature conservation, perseverance, and standing up for your community. “A gorgeously told true story, full of lyricism, wonder, beautiful artwork, and most importantly, HOPE. Stand as Tall as the Trees makes my heart swell every time I read it. We need more stories like this—in life and in our libraries.” —Todd Mitchell, Green Earth Book Award Honor Winner and Author of The Namer of Spirits “This moving and inspirational story of Patricia Gualinga's fight for her community's Amazon rainforest is an urgent call to action to protect the wilderness, which, in the poignant words of the authors, keeps us all alive. Stand as Tall as the Trees is an ode to the power of ordinary people to affect change. Lovingly written and illustrated, it is a book that will inspire a new generation of activists.” —Lea Aschkenas, bilingual librarian and author of Arletis, Abuelo, and the Message in a Bottle “This picture book will capture your heart and imagination alike.” – Alda P. Dobbs, Winner of the Pura Belpré Honor Award and Author of The Other Side of the River “This gorgeous book will surely delight youngsters, but it will be on my syllabus for graduate students studying Nature Writing as well. After all, books for younger readers influence our cultural conversation about the environment. Who doesn’t remember their favorite nature-based picture book? I think we all do, because they were seared into our brains at a powerful moment. This book deserves to be one of those memorable classics, worth studying for its important story, delightful art, inclusion, and environmental ethic.” —Laura Pritchett, PhD, Director of the MFA in Nature Writing at Western Colorado University and PEN USA Award Winning Author "A true story full of wisdom and hope, this book's stunning beauty ranges from the gorgeous illustrations to the powerful messages of bravery, strength, and perseverance. Stand as Tall as the Trees is a poetic and soulful gem that offers inspiration for readers of all ages." — Bailey Cates, NYT bestselling author

Author : Susanna B. Hecht,Kathleen D. Morrison,Christine Padoch
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
Page : 508 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2014-03-04
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780226024134

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The Social Lives of Forests by Susanna B. Hecht,Kathleen D. Morrison,Christine Padoch Pdf

Forests are in decline, and the threats these outposts of nature face—including deforestation, degradation, and fragmentation—are the result of human culture. Or are they? This volume calls these assumptions into question, revealing forests’ past, present, and future conditions to be the joint products of a host of natural and cultural forces. Moreover, in many cases the coalescence of these forces—from local ecologies to competing knowledge systems—has masked a significant contemporary trend of woodland resurgence, even in the forests of the tropics. Focusing on the history and current use of woodlands from India to the Amazon, The Social Lives of Forests attempts to build a coherent view of forests sited at the nexus of nature, culture, and development. With chapters covering the effects of human activities on succession patterns in now-protected Costa Rican forests; the intersection of gender and knowledge in African shea nut tree markets; and even the unexpectedly rich urban woodlands of Chicago, this book explores forests as places of significant human action, with complex institutions, ecologies, and economies that have transformed these landscapes in the past and continue to shape them today. From rain forests to timber farms, the face of forests—how we define, understand, and maintain them—is changing.

Author : Joana Bezerra
Publisher : Springer
Page : 204 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2015-08-25
Category : Technology & Engineering
ISBN : 9783319230306

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The Brazilian Amazon by Joana Bezerra Pdf

The aim of this book is to analyse the current development scenario in the Amazon, using Terra Preta de Índio as a case study. To do so it is necessary to go back in time, both in the national and international sphere, through the second half of the last century to analyse its trajectory. It will be equally important analyse the current issues regarding the Amazon – sustainable development and climate change – and how they still reproduce some of the problems that marked the history of the forest, such as the absence of Amazonian dark earths as a relevant theme to the Amazon. ​In a world in which the environment gains each time more space in the national and international political agenda, the Amazon stands out. Known around the world for its richness, the South-American forest is the target of different visions, often contradictory ones, and it plays with everyone’s imagination. This is where the terra preta de índio – Amazonian Dark Earths - are found, a fertile soil horizon with high concentrations of carbon with anthropic origins, which has generated great interest from the scientific community. Studies on these soils and their so singular characteristics have triggered crucial discussions on the past, present and the future of the entire Amazon region. Despite its singular characteristics, the importance of Amazonian Dark Earths – and a history of a more productive and populated Amazon – was hidden since its discovery around 1880 until 1980, when it is possible to identify the beginning of an increase in the number of research on these soil horizons. These hundred years between the first records and the beginning of the increase in the interest around these soils witnessed structural changes both in the national arena, with the military dictatorship and a change in the place of the Amazon within internal affairs, and in the international arena with changes that reshaped the role of the environment in the political and scientific agendas and the role of Brazil in the global context.

Author : Mark J. Plotkin
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 249 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2020
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9780190668297

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The Amazon by Mark J. Plotkin Pdf

"Rainforests occupy a special place in the imagination. Literary, historical and cinematic depictions range from a ghastly Green Hell to an idyllic Garden of Eden. In terms of fiction, they fired the already fervent imaginations of storytellers as diverse as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rudyard Kipling and even George Lucas and Steven Spielberg in whose books and films they are inhabited by dinosaurs, trod by Indiana Jones, prowled by Mowgli the Jungle Boy and swung through by Tarzan of the Apes. But rainforest fact is no less fascinating than rainforest fiction. Brimming with mystery and intrigue, these forests still harbor lost cities, uncontacted tribes, ancient shamans, and powerful plants than can kill - and cure. The rainforest bestiary extends far beyond the requisite lions, tigers and bears. Flying foxes and winged lizards, arboreal anteaters, rainforest giraffes, cross-dressing spiders that disguise themselves as ants and bats the size of a bumblebees all flourish in these most fabulous of forests along with other zoological denizens that are equally bizarre and spectacular. And no scientist immersed in these ecosystems believes that all the wonders have been found or revealed. Tropical rainforests merit their moniker. They flourish in the tropics - the more than 3000 mile-wide equatorial band between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. And these forests are hot, humid and wet, receiving in the Amazon, on average from 60 to 120 inches of rain per year - as compared to a mere 25 inches in London or 45 inches in Manhattan. However, several sites in the rainforests of northeastern India, of west Africa and western Colombia are drenched by over 400 inches of precipitation per annum. To a large degree, rainfall in the tropics is determined by the so-called "Intertropical Convergence Zone" (ICZ), a band of clouds around the equator created by the meeting of the northeast and southeast trade winds. Also referred to as the "Monsoon Trough," and known to - and dreaded by - sailors over the centuries as the "Doldrums," since the extended periods of calm that sometimes manifested there could strand a sailing vessel for weeks. The constant cloud cover due to the ICZ, the ferocious heat, and the abundant rainfall combine to produce high humidity, sometimes close to 95 per cent in the Amazon, a challenge for visitors unused to such torpor. According to Rhett Butler of Mongabay: "Each canopy tree transpires 200 gallons of water annually, translating roughly into 20,000 gallons transpired into the atmosphere for every acre of canopy trees. Large rainforests (and their humidity) contribute to the formation of rain clouds, and generate as much as 75 per cent of their own rain and are therefore responsible for creating as much as 50 per cent of their own precipitation.""--

Author : Nigel Smith
Publisher : Springer
Page : 500 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2014-09-26
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319055091

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Palms and People in the Amazon by Nigel Smith Pdf

This book explores the degree to which landscapes have been enriched with palms by human activities and the importance of palms for the lives of people in the region today and historically. Palms are a prominent feature of many landscapes in Amazonia, and they are important culturally, economically, and for a variety of ecological roles they play. Humans have been reorganizing the biological furniture in the region since the first hunters and gatherers arrived over 20,000 years ago.

Author : John A. Parrotta,Ronald L. Trosper
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 622 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2011-10-14
Category : Science
ISBN : 9400721447

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Traditional Forest-Related Knowledge by John A. Parrotta,Ronald L. Trosper Pdf

Exploring a topic of vital and ongoing importance, Traditional Forest Knowledge examines the history, current status and trends in the development and application of traditional forest knowledge by local and indigenous communities worldwide. It considers the interplay between traditional beliefs and practices and formal forest science and interrogates the often uneasy relationship between these different knowledge systems. The contents also highlight efforts to conserve and promote traditional forest management practices that balance the environmental, economic and social objectives of forest management. It places these efforts in the context of recent trends towards the devolution of forest management authority in many parts of the world. The book includes regional chapters covering North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and the Australia-Pacific region. As well as relating the general factors mentioned above to these specific areas, these chapters cover issues of special regional significance, such as the importance of traditional knowledge and practices for food security, economic development and cultural identity. Other chapters examine topics ranging from key policy issues to the significant programs of regional and international organisations, and from research ethics and best practices for scientific study of traditional knowledge to the adaptation of traditional forest knowledge to climate change and globalisation.

Author : Emilio F. Moran
Publisher : University of Iowa Press
Page : 254 pages
File Size : 47,8 Mb
Release : 1993-08
Category : Nature
ISBN : 9781587291579

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Through Amazonian Eyes by Emilio F. Moran Pdf

In this well-written, comprehensive, reasonable yet passionate volume, Emilio Moran introduces us to the range of human and ecological diversity in the Amazon Basin. By describing the complex heterogeneity on the Amazon's ecological mosaic and its indigenous populations' conscious adaptations to this diversity, he leads us to realize that there are strategies of resource use which do not destroy the structure and function of ecosystems. Finally, and most important, he examines ways in which we might benefit from the study of human ecology to design and implement a balance between conservation and use.

Author : William Balée
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 278 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2021-08-17
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781000411331

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Inside Cultures by William Balée Pdf

This concise, contemporary option for instructors of cultural anthropology breaks away from the traditional structure of introductory textbooks. Emphasizing the interaction between humans and their environment, the tension between human universals and cultural variation, and the impacts of colonialism on traditional cultures, Inside Cultures shows students how cultural anthropology can help us understand the complex, globalized world around us. This third edition: contains brand new material on many subjects, including anthropological approaches to anti-racism social movements in the Global North during 2020; includes findings in anthropological research regarding the Covid-19 pandemic, and its relation to other recent global events and conditions; updates the organization and presentation of cultural universals and cultural variations; presents updated and enhanced discussions of anthropological studies of humankind and the environment, with expanded analysis of industrial agriculture in the age of globalization; includes more illustrations and updates to existing illustrations, sidebars, and guideposts throughout the volume; is written in clear, supple prose that delights readers while informing on content of one of the important courses in a liberal arts education, one that effectively bridges humanities and the sciences.

Author : William Balée
Publisher : University of Alabama Press
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2023-05-23
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9780817321574

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Sowing the Forest by William Balée Pdf

Explores how, over centuries, Amazonian people and their cultures have interacted with rainforests William Balée is a world-renowned expert on the cultural and historical ecology of the Amazon basin. His new collection, Sowing the Forest, is a companion volume to the award-winning Cultural Forests of the Amazon, published in 2013. Sowing the Forest engages in depth with how, over centuries, Amazonian people and their cultures have interacted with rainforests, making the landscapes of palm forests and other kinds of forests, and how these and related forests have fed back into the vocabulary and behavior of current indigenous occupants of the remotest parts of the vast hinterlands. The book is divided into two parts. Part 1, “Substrate of Intentionality,” comprises chapters on historical ecology, indigenous palm forests, plant names in Amazonia, the origins of the Amazonian plantain, and the unknown “Dark Earth people” of thousands of years ago and their landscaping. Together these chapters illustrate the phenomenon of feedback between culture and environment. In Part 2, “Scope of Transformation,” Balée lays out his theory of landscape transformation, which he divides into two rubrics—primary landscape transformation and secondary landscape transformation—and for which he provides examples and various specific effects. One chapter compares environmental and social interrelationships in an Orang Asli group in Malaysia and the Ka’apor people of eastern Amazonian Brazil, and another chapter covers loss of language and culture in the Bolivian Amazon. A final chapter addresses the controversial topic of monumentality in the rainforest. Balée concludes by emphasizing the common thread in Amazonian historical ecology: the long-term phenomenon of encouraging diversity for its own sake, not just for economic reasons.

Author : Darrell Addison Posey,Michael J. Balick
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 389 pages
File Size : 43,6 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780231105880

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Human Impacts on Amazonia by Darrell Addison Posey,Michael J. Balick Pdf

Of late, religion seems to be everywhere, suffusing U.S. politics and popular culture and acting as both a unifying and a divisive force. This collection of manifestos, Supreme Court decisions, congressional testimonies, speeches, articles, book excerpts, pastoral letters, interviews, song lyrics, memoirs, and poems reflects the vitality, diversity, and changing nature of religious belief and practice in American public and private life over the last half century. Encompassing a range of perspectives, this book illustrates the ways in which individuals from all along the religious and political spectrum have engaged religion and viewed it as a crucial aspect of society. The anthology begins with documents that reflect the close relationship of religion, especially mainline Protestantism, to essential ideas undergirding Cold War America. Covering both the center and the margins of American religious life, this volume devotes extended attention to how issues of politics, race, gender, and sexuality have influenced the religious mainstream. A series of documents reflects the role of religion and theology in the civil rights, feminist, and gay rights movements as well as in conservative responses. Issues regarding religion and contemporary American culture are explored in documents about the rise of the evangelical movement and the religious right; the impact of "new" (post-1965) immigrant communities on the religious landscape; the popularity of alternative, New Age, and non-Western beliefs; and the relationship between religion and popular culture. The editors conclude with selections exploring major themes of American religious life at the millennium, including both conservative and New Age millennialism, as well as excerpts that speculate on the future of religion in the United States. The documents are grouped by theme into nine chapters and arranged chronologically therein. Each chapter features an extensive introduction providing context for and analysis of the critical issues raised by the primary sources.