How Forests Think : Towards An Anthropology Beyond The Human By Eduardo Kohn And Pandora 's Hope

In Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer explores the human fascination with the purpose of life and nature. Krakauer documents the life and death of Chris McCandless, a young man that embarked on an Odyssey in the Alaskan wilderness. Like many people, McCandless believed that he could give his life meaning by pursuing a relationship with nature. He also believed that rejecting human relationships, abandoning his materialistic ways, and purchasing a book about wildlife would strengthen his relationship with nature. However, after spending several months enduring the extreme conditions of the Alaskan wilderness, McCandless’ beliefs begin to work against him. He then accepts that he needs humans, cannot escape materialism, and can

In the serious yet optimistic journal entry, John Muir employs the idea of spiritual duty, and personification, as humans to preserves the continuously killed Redwoods. Muir has seen the death of hundreds of trees and knows the irreparable damage it could cause if the damage continues, “...kings of the forest, the noblest of a noble race, rightly belong to the world, but as they are in California we cannot escape responsibility as their guardians” (paragraph, 6). The author’s use of “noblest of a noble race” and “responsibility as their guardian” evokes an intense need to not only protest the killing of these giants but to nurture and advocate respect for the Redwoods. As humans, Muir demands an explanation as to our mistreatment of the sacred creatures and will take no other answers than of one that demonstrates total and complete love for the trees. He expects those who are damaging God’s prized forests to questions themselves and to examine their actions so that they can correct their mistakes. Another example of personification that appeals to the trees is John Muir’s description of the insurgence of rebellion against the murder of the trees, and the rejoicing of the behemoths, “... this righteous uprising in defense of God’s trees in the midst of exciting politics and wars… and every Sequoia… has heard the good news and is waving its branches for joy” (paragraph, 1). The words in this sentence serve primarily to illustrate the tree’s emotions. By giving the trees the ability to feel and exhibit joy over their possibly brighter future, it gives people a sense of pride about alleviating some of the Redwood’s pain. As Muir has demonstrated many times before, it is the people's duty to cherish the Redwoods; there will never be a moment when this job is completed.

Life, it might be argued, is the distinguishing feature of all organisms and may most usefully be thought of as involving various kinds of complex systems of organization providing individual organisms with the ability to make use of those energy sources available to them for both self maintenance and reproduction. Underlying this deceptively persuasive definition, however, lie those persistent traditional problems inherent in the search for an essential, distinctive substance characteristic of all forms of life. Additionally, as evolution theory makes clear, there is the problem of borderline instances, organisms of which it is not easy to say whether or not they may be defined as being alive. One such case

Throughout history, humans have had a strong reliance on nature and their environment. As far back as historians can look, people have depended on elements of nature for their survival. In the past few decades, the increased advancement of technology has led to an unfortunate division between humans and nature, and this lack of respect is becoming a flaw in current day society. In Last Child in the Woods, Louv criticizes modern culture by arguing that humans increasing reliance on technology has led to their decreasing connection with nature through the use of relevant anecdotes, rhetorical questions and powerful imagery to appeal to ethos.

‘The sheer popularity’ of stimulating nature or using nature as ad space ‘demands that we acknowledge, even respect, their cultural importance,’ suggests Richtel. Culturally important, yes. But the logical extension of synthetic nature is the irrelevance of ‘true’ nature— the certainty that it’s not even worth looking at. (Louv lines 9-19)

In both Kate Chopin’s The Awakening and Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild, nature is paradoxically symbolized as both a liberator and a destroyer- intellectual maturation and hubris- through the “awakenings” of Edna Pontellier and Chris McCandless.

Humans are born from and return to earth at death; human beings and nature are bound up each other. Yet, the technological modern world has shaped humans to be oblivious of nature and the ethnocentrism has positioned human beings above all other things. Nature has become resources for people and nothing more than that. David Abram, the author of the Ecology of magic, travels into the wild, traditional land in search of the relation between magic and nature; the meaning nature holds in the traditional cultures. Abram intends to communicate his realization of the magical awareness of the countless nonhuman entities and the necessity of the balance between the human communities and the nature to the readers, hoping the Western technologized

“Could it be that we are supposed to be talking to the plants and animals, interacting with them, accepting the gifts they offer, and using them in ways that further their growth?”(Starhawk, 162). I feel this quote from “Our Place in Nature” is a great way to start the topic of how artists uses plant life in their work. It shows how artists might try to interact with the environment for ideas on the works that they come up. I feel also that they are trying to be one with the environment. I feel if you spend enough time in nature, you will build a strong connection with everything around you. This comment is justified when Starhawk said, “I can walk into any forest where the trees are strange and understand something about the relationships

Similar to Cronon’s Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature, Evernden discusses the concept of nature in today’s society and the impacts of mixing meanings of the term nature. Evernden begins by elaborating on the term nature and using the concept of nature to support contrasting ideas. The author continues by philosophically analyzing two questions about nature: What does the word nature mean? What is nature? Evernden then discusses several definitions and understandings of the term nature. A few of the definitions of nature mentioned are as follows: nature meaning kind; nature as a danger; nature as an assertion of relationships. He relates these concepts to the term phusis, and then goes into detail about the Greek origins

The jungle by Upton Sinclair has made me realize how history shaped what america is today. It was in this book that raised the spotlight on many topics including: meat handling, minimum wage, workers compensation, sexual harassment, child labor and most importantly the right to express one's thoughts. Now we live in a country that not only honors our freedom but respects and looks over our health. The jungle takes place in the 1900s when over 9 million immigrants were flocking to America searching for what was known as the American dream. So was this particular lutheran family that came to America for just that. Not knowing that in the end they would be contributors of the awareness and importance of checking meat handlers.

The representation of the individual in Karen Tei Yamashita’s “Through the Arc of the Rainforest” shows interactions between the characters with varying degrees of individuality, as well as generic “crowds” representing the population at large. The individuals represented are characters with both weak and strong personalities, as well as exploitative and exploited crowd interactions. Yamashita portrays the “individual” with basic cosmetic differences, evidenced by Kazumasa’s orbiting cranial satellite and Tweep’s third appendage. However, Yamashita also uses the ideological differences, specifically Chico Paco’s religious devotion and Mane Pena’s knowledge in the field of featherology. These distinctions serve to cast these characters from the homogenous “crowd,” elevating them from the nameless characters that occupy the background of the novel. The individualism these characters demonstrate is identified by their personalities, their interactions with other individuals, and their interaction with the crowd around them. This paper will use these actions to explain Yamashita’s portrayal of flawed individuals, and how they interact with the “crowd.”

Spirit of the Rainforest is a book written by Mark Andrew Ritchie about the Yanomamö people of the Amazon. However, the story is told from the perspective of “Jungleman” a shaman of the people. Jungleman is a powerful shaman who knows the realities of both the spirit world and the physical world. His narrative helps the reader understand how important the spirit world is for the Yanomamö people. Through his storytelling, he highlights the role of shamans in the culture, customs of his people, and how those customs were affected when the nabas came.

In Colin M. Turnbull’s book The Forest People there were many examples of theoretical approaches that he describes that the Pygmies use to maintain there social order. One of the elements that I noticed the most was interpretive or symbolic anthropology. In this book, Turnbull showed that in Pygmy society your social status and economic well-being are heavily dependent on the acceptance and respect you receive from other members of the community. Turnbull used interpretive/ symbolic anthropology to try to uncover and interpret the deep emotional and psychological structure of their society. Turnbull went under the experience of being a member of this specific culture and made that experience available to the reader.

In Respect for Nature, Paul Taylor develops the following four elements of the biocentric outlook on nature:

In the chapter First the Forests in the book Forests: The Shadow of Civilization by Robert Harrison, used Greek mythology and modern day philosophers to connect how forests interact through civilization. The popular themes in this chapter plays along Vicos theory of the intuitional order with the quotation “This was the order of human institutions: first the forests, after that the huts, then the villages, next the cities, and finally the academies” (Pg.11). In the epic of Gilgamesh the first antagonist was the forest. This emphasized how the forest was wild and dangerous. The Greek god Artemis would roam in the forest hiding in the shadows of the trees. The forest is a place of wild and of disorder. Actaeon went to the forest and saw Artemis