Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 People, numbers, and natural resources: demography in environmental research
- 3 Production decisions and time allocation: a guide to data collection
- 4 Analyzing the politics of natural resources: from theories of property rights to institutional analysis and beyond
- 5 Extreme events, tipping points, and vulnerability: methods in the political economy of environment
- 6 Local communities and natural resources: ethnobiology in practice
- 7 Mapping histories: cultural landscapes and walkabout methods
- 8 Metaphors and myths in news reports of an Amazonian “Lost Tribe”: society, environment and literary analysis
- 9 Water decision-makers in a desert city: text analysis and environmental social science
- 10 Linking human and natural systems: social networks, environment, and ecology
- 11 Khat commodity chains in Madagascar: multi-sited ethnography at multiple scales
- 12 Spatiotemporal methodologies in environmental anthropology: geographic information systems, remote sensing, landscape changes, and local knowledge
- 13 Deep time, diachronic change, and the integration of multi-scalar data: archaeological methods for exploring human–environment dynamics
- 14 Comparing trajectories of climate, class, and production: an historical ecology of American yeomen
- 15 Socioecological methods for designing marine conservation programs: a Solomon Islands example
- Index
- References
14 - Comparing trajectories of climate, class, and production: an historical ecology of American yeomen
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 People, numbers, and natural resources: demography in environmental research
- 3 Production decisions and time allocation: a guide to data collection
- 4 Analyzing the politics of natural resources: from theories of property rights to institutional analysis and beyond
- 5 Extreme events, tipping points, and vulnerability: methods in the political economy of environment
- 6 Local communities and natural resources: ethnobiology in practice
- 7 Mapping histories: cultural landscapes and walkabout methods
- 8 Metaphors and myths in news reports of an Amazonian “Lost Tribe”: society, environment and literary analysis
- 9 Water decision-makers in a desert city: text analysis and environmental social science
- 10 Linking human and natural systems: social networks, environment, and ecology
- 11 Khat commodity chains in Madagascar: multi-sited ethnography at multiple scales
- 12 Spatiotemporal methodologies in environmental anthropology: geographic information systems, remote sensing, landscape changes, and local knowledge
- 13 Deep time, diachronic change, and the integration of multi-scalar data: archaeological methods for exploring human–environment dynamics
- 14 Comparing trajectories of climate, class, and production: an historical ecology of American yeomen
- 15 Socioecological methods for designing marine conservation programs: a Solomon Islands example
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction to historical ecology
Historical ecology uses interdisciplinary synthesis to trace and evaluate the complex relationships between humans and the environment over the long term, typically traversing the course of centuries (Crumley 1994, 2007: 16). Its methodological backbone is the synthesis of long-series data produced by practitioners in diverse fields. Work in historical ecology is guided by theoretical postulates that recognize that understanding humans’ occupation of nearly every environmental niche and the diversity of human social structures requires broadly integrative methodologies (Balée 1998). Researchers bring about a difficult union between history and science, pay close attention to the relations of geographic and temporal scales, embrace human social complexity, and present findings in ways that are broadly accessible (Crumley 1994, 1996a, 1996b, 2007).
The methods of historical ecology have been shaped by a rejection of environmental determinism, an interdisciplinary historical synthesis, and interest in questions concerning the historical trajectories of the changes in humans’ relations with the environment. Because historical ecology melds data from science and the humanities, the following review of its methods draws from advances in geography, biology, ecology, history, sociology, and anthropology. That discussion is followed by examples of questions addressed by practitioners of historical ecology, an illustrative case study, and an evaluation of the future of the approach.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Environmental Social SciencesMethods and Research Design, pp. 322 - 348Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010
References
1994 Footprints of the Forest: Ka’apor Ethnobotany: The Historical Ecology of Plant Utilization by an Amazonian PeopleNew YorkColumbia University PressGoogle Scholar
2006 The research program of historical ecologyAnnual Review of Anthropology 35 75CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2006 Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical LowlandsNew YorkColumbia University PressCrossRef
1980 Historical Ecology: Essays on Environment and Social ChangePort Washington, NYKenniket Press
1987 New directions in environmental sociologyAnnual Review of Sociology 13 465CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1942 The English Yeoman: Under Elizabeth and the Early StuartsNew Haven, CTYale University PressGoogle Scholar
1983 Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New EnglandNew YorkHill & WangGoogle Scholar
1972 Ecological Imperialism: The Biological Expansion of Europe, 900–1900Cambridge, UKCambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
1986 The Columbian Exchange. Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492Santa Barbara, CAGreenwood PressGoogle Scholar
1987 Regional Dynamics: Burgundian Landscapes in Historical PerspectiveNew YorkAcademic PressGoogle Scholar
1987 Regional Dynamics: Burgundian Landscapes in Historical PerspectiveNew YorkAcademic PressGoogle Scholar
1994 Historical Ecology: Cultural Knowledge and Changing LandscapesSanta Fe, NMSchool of American Research PressGoogle Scholar
2007 The World System and the Earth System: Global Socio-environmental Change and Sustainability Since the NeolithicWalnut Creek, CALeft Coast PressGoogle Scholar
1944 Analysis and Mexican archaeology: an attempt to apply the methodAmerican Antiquity 10 135CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2006 Causal modeling and the origins of path analysisTheory & Science 7 http://theoryandscience.icaap.org/content/vol7.1/denis.htmlGoogle Scholar
1914 A method for estimating rainfall by the growth of treesBulletin of the American Geographical Society 46 321CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1919 Climatic Cycles and Tree-growth, Volume IPhiladelphia, PACarnegie Institution of Washington and J. B. Lippencott CoGoogle Scholar
1928 Climatic Cycles and Tree-growth, Volume IIPhiladelphia, PACarnegie Institution of Washington and J. B. Lippencott CoGoogle Scholar
1936 Climatic Cycles and Tree-growth, Volume IIIPhiladelphia, PACarnegie Institution of Washington and J.B. Lippencott CoGoogle Scholar
2001 The Historical Ecology Handbook: A Restorationist’s Guide to Reference EcosystemsWashington DCIsland PressGoogle Scholar
2004 Human geography and ecological sociology: the unfolding of a human ecology, 1890 to 1930 – and beyondSocial Science History 28 575Google Scholar
1912 The fluctuating climate of North America part I: the ruins of HohokamThe Geographical Journal 40 264CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1912 The fluctuating climate of North America (continued)The Geographical Journal 40 392CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1917 Temperature optima for human energyProceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 3 127CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
1914 The Climatic Factor as Illustrated in Arid AmericaWashington, DCCarnegie InstitutionGoogle Scholar
1968
1971 Times of Feast, Times of Famine: History of Climate Since the Year 1000New YorkDoubleday PressGoogle Scholar
1987 Regional Dynamics: Burgundian Landscapes in Historical PerspectiveNew YorkAcademic PressGoogle Scholar
1981 Climate and History: Studies in Past Climates and Their Impact on ManCambridge, UKCambridge University PressGoogle Scholar
1994 Historical Ecology: Cultural Knowledge and Changing LandscapesSanta Fe, NMSchool of American Research PressGoogle Scholar
2007 Landscapes of settlement in northern Iceland: historical ecology of human impact and climate fluctuation of the millennial scaleAmerican Anthropologist 109 27CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2003 Observations on the nature and culture of environmental historyHistory and Theory 2 5CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1980 Historical Ecology: Essays on Environment and Social ChangePort Washington, NYKenniket PressGoogle Scholar
2008
1999 Applied historical ecology: using the past to manage for the futureEcological Applications 9 1189CrossRefGoogle Scholar
1969 Environment and Cultural Behavior: Ecological Studies in Cultural AnthropologyGarden City, NYThe Natural History Press
1968 Introduction to Cultural Anthropology: Essays in the Scope and Methods of the Science of ManBoston, MAHoughton MifflinGoogle Scholar
1994 Historical Ecology: Cultural Knowledge and Changing LandscapesSanta Fe, NMSchool of American Research PressGoogle Scholar
1977 Nature’s Economy: A History of Ecological IdeasCambridge, UKCambridge University PressGoogle Scholar