Ethnobiology and the Anthropocene: A View from Amazonia

In recognition of humanity’s increased capacity to alter the Earth’s climate and bio-physical environment, the Nobel prize-winning atmospheric chemist Paul Crutzen has declared that we now live in a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. Ironically, Crutzen’s declaration occurs at a time when many environmental social scientists have grown concerned about the latent anthropocentrism that dominates much of modern thought. This presentation, which draws from ethnographic and ethnobiological research in Central Amazonia, discusses how rural Amazonian views of human-environmental relations can offer important counterpoints to modern anthropocentrism. Specifically, it examines the ways that rural Amazonian folklore grants agency to plants and animals, and thus undescores the importance of situating human lives within broad networks of relations with other beings and forces. To conclude, this presentation considers the ways that ethnobiological research can cultivate a more inclusive vision of ecology during this time of environmental crisis.