Ethnobiology and the New Environmental Anthropology

Ethnobiology is a field of study that records and interprets biological knowledge and understanding among traditional and modern ethnic groups. It dates from the late 19th century; the term “ethnobotany” was coined by 1895, “ethnobiology” following later. The field has moved through descriptive, cognitive-analytic, ecological, and multidisciplinary phases. Research has included studies of language used to describe the natural world, actual practices relating to it, religiously represented knowledge, and all other aspects of traditional understandings of the biota. It is part of a new environmental anthropology that takes seriously traditional knowledge, understanding, and ontology of the natural world. This has accompanied a rapid rise in valorization of traditional understandings and experiences, especially but not only those found among Indigenous societies and cultures worldwide.