Toward conservational anthropology: addressing anthropocentric bias in anthropology

Kopnina, Helen (2012) Toward conservational anthropology: addressing anthropocentric bias in anthropology. Dialectical Anthropology, 36 (1-2). pp. 127-146. ISSN 0304-4092

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Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10624-012-9265-y

Abstract

Anthropological literature addressing conservation and development often blames 'conservationists' as being neo-imperialist in their attempts to institute limits to commercial activities by imposing their post-materialist eco-ideology. The author argues that this view of conservationists is ironic in light of the fact that the very notion of 'development' is arguably an imposition of the (Western) elites. The anthropocentric bias in anthropology also permeates constructivist ethnographies of human-animal 'interactions,' which tend to emphasize the socio-cultural complexity and interconnectivity rather than the unequal and often extractive nature of this 'interaction.' Anthropocentrism is argued to be counteractive to reconciling conservationists' efforts at environmental protection with the traditional ontologies of the interdependency of human-nature relationship.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Anthropocentrism, Applied anthropology, Conservation, Conservation/culture conflict, Constructivism, Development, Eco-centrism
Subjects: L600 Anthropology
L700 Human and Social Geography
Department: Faculties > Business and Law > Newcastle Business School
Depositing User: Rachel Branson
Date Deposited: 24 Nov 2021 11:28
Last Modified: 24 Nov 2021 11:30
URI: http://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/47839

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