
































Historical Summary of Anthropological Thought on Climate Change 

Review by Sandra Moore

The Anthropology of Climate Change: An Historical Reader

by Michael R. Dove 

Wiley-Blackwell, 2014

As we begin the Anthropocene, an era characterized by humans' “unparalleled dominion over the whole

planet” (Ackerman 2014: 9), there is a critical need to identify and understand the interconnectedness

between human activity and environmental changes (Folke, Pritchard Jr., Berkes, Colding & Svedin

2007).  In  The  Anthropology  of  Climate  Change,  environmental  anthropologist  Michael  R.  Dove

presents  twenty-two  canonical  works  spanning  thousands  of  years.  These  works  highlight  the

intellectual  roots  and  historical  development  of  anthropological  thought  on  climate  change  and

relationships between humans and their environments. As Dove explains in the introduction, since the

classical era “theorizing regarding the relationship between nature and culture, between environment

and society, has been central to the development of anthropology as a field” (p. 2). 

This  book  begins  with  a  comprehensive  introduction  from  Dove  outlining  the  history  of

anthropological  thought  on  the  relationship  between  humans  and  their  environments.  He  also

summarizes  each  of  the  twenty-two  works  in  this  book,  which  are  paired  together  under  eleven

thematic  areas  in  four principle  parts.  The first  part,  “Continuities,”  presents  works  from classical

(Hippocrates), Enlightenment (Charles de Secondat Montesquieu), and contemporary scholars (Francis

Zimmerman) focusing on themes related to climate theory, “…the idea that climate determines human

character, culture, and the rise and fall of civilizations” (p. 2). Part two, “Societal and Environmental

Change,” consists  of works focusing on societal  changes associated with climate change from late

nineteenth century scholars (Friedrich Ratzel), mid-twentieth century scholars (Betty J. Meggers), and



contemporary  scholars  (Harvey  Weiss  and  Raymond  Bradley).  The  third  part,  “Vulnerability  and

Control,” includes works from modern scholars (Elizabeth Colson) exploring how diverse societies are

affected by and cope with climatic perturbations.  The final part,  “Knowledge and its  Circulation,”

includes contemporary works (Kenneth Broad and Ben Orlove) that address how extreme climatic

events are interpreted and experienced by different social, cultural, economic, and political groups. 

In addition to spanning millennia, the works Dove includes in this edited book are also diverse in their

focus on specific geographic areas and climatic perturbations. The included works explore a range of

geographic  specific  climate  issues  including:  climatic  regional  divides  in  the  Maghreb  region  of

Northern Africa (Ibn Khaldûn )  and India (Zimmermann);  the potential  of  the Amazon to support

civilization (Meggers); the collapse of Norse civilization in Greenland at the end of the seventeenth

century  (Thomas  H.  McGovern);  post  natural  disaster  assistance  in  the  Solomon  Islands  (James

Spillius); drought in the Kalahari region of Botswana (Jacqueline Solway); rain shrines in Northern

Rhodesia  (Colson);  gendered  dimensions  of  flooding  in  Bangladesh  (Rosalind  Shaw);  glacial

disturbances in Peru (Mark Carey); social and political responses to Hurricane Katrina in the United

States (Nancy Scheper-Hughes); catastrophic effects of typhoons in Micronesia (David M. Schneider);

colonial politics of climate in Northern Tanzania (Todd Sanders); and the consumption of Northern

climate science by Brazilian scholars and policy-makers (Myanna Lahsen).

Dove’s efforts to include works that explore specific places and issues highlights one of anthropology’s

main strengths,  providing place based understanding of  specific  issues and concerns.  Many of  the

works in this book are place based case studies of specific communities or regions that directly, or

indirectly, adopt a climate theory perspective explaining diversity among humans and civilizations as a

result of climatic differences. The opening paragraph of the first article in the book, Hippocrates’s “Air,

Waters, Places” affirms that those interested in studying the science of medicine must consider the

geographic specific  effects  of seasonal  variability,  weather,  and the environment  on human health.

Geographic specificity is the focus of many of the included works to explain societal, cultural, and

physical differences associated with environmental variation. 

The works Dove included demonstrate a chain of development in climate theory over time. Many of

the included works also address the social impacts of climate change, such as Jacqueline Soloway’s

“Drought  as  a  'Revelatory  Crisis':  An Exploration  of  Shifting  Entitlements  and  Hierarchies  in  the

Kalahari, Botswana” exploring reoccurring drought in the early 1980s as a catalyst for social change.



As Soloway illustrates,  societal  change is  rarely explained by individual factors;  the timing of the

extreme drought  in  the  Kalahari  co-occurred  with  extreme social  changes  in  the  region  including

increased commercialization, class formation, and a rapidly growing national economy. 

Similarly, the included work by Nancy Scheper-Hughes, “The Disaster and its Doubles,” analyzes the

impact of Hurricane Katrina in the U.S Gulf Coast and the social and political responses that followed

the storm for the already disadvantaged populations living in this  region. Hence,  extreme climatic

events are often catalysts for adaptive or maladaptive social change as competition for scarce resources

increase in the wake of these events. However, what we learn from the experiences of specific regions

dealing with climate perturbations may not always have universal applicability. Climate change is also

a  global  issue  and  the  universality  of  science  as  a  discipline  may  conflict  with  diverse  cultural

perceptions and beliefs. One of the last articles in the book, Myanna Lahsen’s “Transnational Locals:

Brazilian Experiences of the Climate Regime” discusses how the universality of science may disrupt or

bias the discourse between transnational governments with diverse cultural and political realities.

These diverse works are evidence of Dove’s broad focus in compiling the works for this book. As with

many edited works, Dove most likely had an abundance of works to choose from to include in this

book.  Although  the  twenty-two  included  works  are  all  well-established  works  from  classical  or

contemporary scholars, works from anthropologists focusing on cultural ecology would have been a

valuable  addition.  In  his  introduction,  Dove does  briefly  refer  to  the  founder  of  cultural  ecology,

anthropologist Julian Steward. He asserts that Steward’s cultural ecology method for understanding

how environmental adaptation impacts cultural change (1955) has had immense impact on the field of

environmental  anthropology  and  indigenous  views  of  climate.  However,  specific  reference  in  this

book’s included works to cultural ecology is limited to a brief paragraph in Rosalind Shaw’s article

“'Nature,' 'Culture' and Disasters: Floods and Gender in Bangladesh.”

 

In conclusion, the works included in this book are interesting, memorable, and a timely contribution to

the discourse in anthropology for understanding the various impacts of global climate change from

multiple perspectives and contexts. Due to Dove’s broad historical orientation, this book provides a

novel framework for introducing undergraduate and graduate anthropology students to climate change

and climate theory from an anthropological perspective. Dove’s comprehensive introduction combined

with the pairing of relevant and related works under specific thematic areas is useful for class reading

assignments and encouraging focused comparative debates. Beyond its usefulness in the classroom, this

well-organized book is a valuable resource for any reader who wishes to develop a better understanding



of how climate change has shaped human history and how it will influence human societies in the

future. 

References Cited

Ackerman, Diane 

2014. The Human Age. Toronto, ON: Harper Collins.

Folke, C., Pritchard, L., Berkes, F., Colding, J., & Svedin, U. 

2007. The problem of fit between ecosystems and institutions: Ten years later. Ecology and Society,

12(1), 30.

Steward, Julian H.

1955. Theory of Culture Change: The Methodology of Multilinear Evolution. Urbana, IL: University

of Illinois Press.

Sandra Moore is a current Ph.D. Candidate in the School of Environment and Sustainability (SENS) at

the  University  of  Saskatchewan.  In  2015  she  was  awarded  a  three  year  SSHRC Vanier  Canada

Graduate Scholarship and is currently studying the social, economic, and ecological costs and benefits

of oil and gas development in rural Saskatchewan.  With an academic background in anthropology and

international  community  development,  Sandra  has  lived  and  worked  in  Canada,  Ethiopia,  and

Vanuatu.

© 2016 Sandra Moore


