Footprints of the Forest: Ka'Apor Ethnobotany- The Historical Ecology of Plant Utilization by an Amazonian People (Biology and Resource Management I) - Hardcover

Balee, William

9780231074841: Footprints of the Forest: Ka'Apor Ethnobotany- The Historical Ecology of Plant Utilization by an Amazonian People (Biology and Resource Management I)

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0231074840 ISBN 13: 9780231074841

Publisher: Columbia Univ Pr, 1994

Based on BalTe's ten years of ethnological and botanical research among the Tupf-Guaranf-speaking Indians, especially the Ka'apor, of eastern Amazonia, this volume documents the ways in which the Ka'apor use, manage, name, and classify many hundreds of plant species found in their habitat. From a historical and ecological perspective, BalTe shows that Ka'apor ethnobotany represents an interpenetration of Amazonian culture and nature and thus constitutes a domain of scientific inquiry in its own right. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

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About the Author:

William Bale is associate professor of anthropology at Tulane University and the editor of Advances in Historical Ecology.

Review:

The complete ethnobotany has yet to be written, but Footprints of the Forest. . . moves one step closer to that Sisyphean goal. . . . I know of no other work as comprehensive as this one. -- BioScience

The complete ethnobotany has yet to be written, but Footprints of the Forest. . . moves one step closer to that Sisyphean goal. . . . I know of no other work as comprehensive as this one. -- BioScience

The most detailed and thorough analysis ever produced of indigenous plants and plant use in Amazonia. . . . Bales perspective skillfully integrates historical and ethnohistorical data with his contemporary research, yielding a finely nuanced view of Kaapor ethnology and neatly meshed comparisons with a number of other Amazonian groups. -- American Anthropologist

This remarkably penetrating volume will repay the diligent study of botanists, ethnobotanists, linguists, and conservationists who are interested in the status of Amazonian phytodiversity and the role of Amerindians in their environment. One can only hope that future generations of Brazilian and worldwide students of tropical ecosystems will be stimulated to initiate long-term studies comparable to this landmark undertaking. -- National Geographic Research and Exploration

[Bale] did far more than prepare lists of plants, foods, and habits of the local people. . . . He got to know them as a distinct group of individuals who have a past, and, if permitted, a future. -- Environmental History

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