On the Border with Culture: or who are the ˮGreenˮ Natives?
On the Border with Culture: or who are the ˮGreenˮ Natives?

Summary/Abstract: In this paper I address an old anthropological problem of the relationship between nature and culture, this time not as ontological qualities, but as political concepts that shape current forms of political struggle in certain parts of the world. I have tried to show that the persistence of the idea that “primitive people” are green is the consequence of many interrelated factors and that it is necessary to see native groups within a concrete historical context instead of simply labelling them as more natural than we are. Sill, my aim it is not to say that industrial societies do not have anything to learn about environmental responsibilities from the non-industrial ones, but following Milton (1999), to show the value of more nuanced and historically situated approach to the understanding of the ways different societies understand and interact with their environment.

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