Valuing nature

Marja Spierenburg

Chapter 1 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Economic Anthropology, 2025, pp 9-13 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This entry discusses the contribution of anthropology to the economics of nature and sustainability, focusing on two important theoretical streams. Political ecology allows scholars to ask pertinent questions concerning how nature and sustainability are defined, according to which logic, and what that implies for the distribution of benefits, risks and costs. The increasing integration of post-structuralist theories and concepts in political ecology results in further unpacking commodification processes, and an awareness of differences in ways in which people engage with these. Building on political ecology critiques of the nature–culture divide, multi-species ethnographers call attention to a diversity of cosmologies and ontologies in which humans and nature are considered closely related and entangled, and promote a more agentive inclusion of the non-human in anthropological research. The final paragraph presents findings from a research project analyzing the socioeconomic impacts of the commodification of wildlife on private game farms in South Africa.

Keywords: Political ecology; Multi-species ethnography; Ecosystem services; Commodification of nature; Nature-culture divide; Game farming (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035312566
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