Economies and the Transformation of Landscape

by Lisa Cliggett, Christopher A. Pool, Douglas James Bolender (Contribution by), Lisa Cliggett (Contribution by), George M. Crothers (Contribution by)

Overview

The theme of this volume is change, specifically the dynamic relationship between physical landscapes and economic practices. The contributors to Economies and the Transformation of Landscape consider the relationship between the environment and human activity—from different perspectives and with regard to varied timescales—to arrive at various understandings of economical-ecological transformations and what they can reveal about human culture. While each chapter stands on its own, offering detailed insights into particular cases, the volume as a whole challenges us to think broadly, and reflexively, about how human action affects the environment and changes to the environment affect human action.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780759111165
Publisher:	AltaMira Press
Publication date:	12/24/2007
Series:	Society for Economic Anthropology Monograph Series , #25
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	6.32(w) x 9.39(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Lisa Cliggett andChristopher Pool are in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kentucky.

Table of Contents

Part 1 Introduction: Economies and The Transformation Of Landscapes
Part 2 SECTION ONE: ENGINEERED LANDSCAPES IN HISTORICAL FRAME
Chapter 3 The Engineered Landscapes of Irrigation
Chapter 4 Reading History in an Irrigated Landscape: The Drama of the Commons in the Andes
Chapter 5 Household Labor and Landscape Transformation in Ancient Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico
Chapter 6 How Mining, Ranching, and the State Changed the Landscape of Southwestern New Mexico, 1850-2005
Part 7 SECTION TWO: TRANSFORMATIONS, POLITICAL STRATEGIES AND DECISION MAKING
Chapter 8 From Foraging to Farming: The Emergence of Exclusive Property Rights in Kentucky Prehistory
Chapter 9 When Nomads Settle: Livelihood Change and Resource Stress with Pastoral Sedentarization in Northern Kenya
Chapter 10 Place Acts and Property Regimes in the Ecuadorian Amazon
Chapter 11 Coffee, Abolition and Immigration: Driving Forces in 19th Century Brazilian Landscape Transformation
Part 12 SECTION 3: POLITICAL ECONOMY AND INSTITUTIONAL INTERACTIONS
Chapter 13 Unsettled Landscapes: Settlement patterns and the development of social inequality in Northern Iceland
Chapter 14 The Decentralized Landscape: Regional Wealth and the Expansion of Production in Northern Tanzania Before the Eve of Colonialism
Chapter 15 Maya Handicraft Vendors, Crime, And The Social Re/Construction of Market Spaces In A Tourism Town
Chapter 16 The Commercial Transformation of a Philippine Cityscape: A Case from San Fernando City, La Union

Editorial Reviews

A provocative volume! Economies and the Transformations of Landscape offers a range of thoughtful perspectives that draw on diverse empirical records to probe the critical nexus between human ecology and economics.

Gary M. Feinman

This volume examines anthropological, archaeological, historical, economic and ecological perspectives through the lens of the notion of “landscape” to investigate social and environmental transformations. Economies and the Transformation of Landscape provides an excellent exploration of evolving human interactions with the natural environment over deep temporal frames, of the consequences of economic decisions and rational strategies, and of the interaction of institutions at local, regional and global scales.

Denise Lawrence-Zuniga

Lisa Cliggett and Christopher Pool have assembled a first-rate collection of empirically rich and theoretically informed essays on the anthropology of landscapes and their transformations. Their excellent introduction is an informative 'read' in itself, and the book's diversity of topics, theories, and geographic regions nicely confirms just how far anthropologists have come in recent years in their understanding of landscapes and the forces that transform them.

Peter D. Little

Scholarship has moved beyond viewing the external environment as composed of nature or culture. This collection of essays explores the complex dynamics of how we humans perceive, use, alter, and interact with the spaces around us.

Robert C. Hunt