Nature and Society looks critically at the nature/society dichotomy and its place in human ecology and social theory. Rethinking the dualism means rethinking ecological anthropology and its notion of the relation between person and environment. By focusing on a variety of perspectives, the contributors draw upon developments in social theory, biology, ethnobiology and sociology of science. They present an array of ethnographic case studies - from Amazonia, the Solomon Islands, Malaysia, the Moluccan Islands, rural communities in Japan and north-west Europe, urban Greece and laboratories of molecular biology and high-energy physics. Nature and Society focuses on the issue of the environment and its relations to humans. By inviting concern for sustainability, ethics, indigenous knowledge, animal rights and social context of science, this book will appeal to students of anthropology, human ecology and sociology.

Philippe Descola, Gisli Palsson

List of illustrations, Notes on contributors, Editors' preface, 1 Introduction, Part I Contested domains and boundaries, Part II Sociologies of nature, Part III Nature, society and artefact, Name index, Subject index