Asia Institute - Research Publications

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Anthropological Theory and the Alleviation of Anthropogenic Climate Change: understanding the Cultural causes of Systemic Change Resistance

Reuter, TAR (World Anthropology Network, 2010)

In this article I argue that anthropologists are well placed to investigate the role of cultural practices, social contexts and ethical considerations in enabling communities and individuals to respond effectively and humanely to the potentially catastrophic consequences of those global climatic changes most scientists now hold to be inevitable. The aim is to show how culturally mediated moral considerations and habitual behaviour patterns inform community responses regarding the urgent need for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The article proposes a method of systemic cultural critique to raise awareness of destructive behaviour patterns enshrined in the most basic cosmological assumptions of late modern consumer society.