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Fiddling While the Globe Warms?
... Der Beginn einer systematisch-ethnologischen Erforschung des Klimawandels, wie er in konkreten Kontexten wahrgenommen und sich an seine lokalen Auswirkungen angepasst wird, liegt ungefähr in der Mitte der 1990er Jahre. Noch kurz zuvor beklagte Steve Rayner (1989) in einem aufrüttelnden Leitartikel im Fachjournal Anthropology Today, dass der Großteil der Ethnolog:innen wie einst Nero im Angesicht der Katastrophe lieber die Geige zu spielen schien. Der Planet erwärme sich, doch die Ethnologie widme sich kaum dieser Problematik. ...
Während Klimaforschung lange als rein naturwissenschaftliches Unterfangen galt, wird sie zunehmend auch in den Sozialwissenschaften betrieben. Die Popularisierung in und außerhalb der Wissenschaft hat dabei nicht nur zu neuen Problembezügen geführt, sondern auch eine wachsende Unübersichtlichkeit produziert: Es ist ein Bedarf entstanden, disziplinäre Einstiegspunkte, interdisziplinäre Anschlussmöglichkeiten und transdisziplinäre Austauschgelegenheiten zu sondieren. Die Beiträge des Bandes thematisieren zentrale Schlüsselwerke der sozialwissenschaftlichen Klimaforschung und ermöglichen so einen ersten und orientierenden Zugang zu diesem Forschungsfeld.
... Der Beginn einer systematisch-ethnologischen Erforschung des Klimawandels, wie er in konkreten Kontexten wahrgenommen und sich an seine lokalen Auswirkungen angepasst wird, liegt ungefähr in der Mitte der 1990er Jahre. Noch kurz zuvor beklagte Steve Rayner (1989) in einem aufrüttelnden Leitartikel im Fachjournal Anthropology Today, dass der Großteil der Ethnolog:innen wie einst Nero im Angesicht der Katastrophe lieber die Geige zu spielen schien. Der Planet erwärme sich, doch die Ethnologie widme sich kaum dieser Problematik. ...
In diesem Buchkapitel umreiße ich, wie die Klimawandelethnologie als Subdisziplin zunächst aus der Umweltethnologie hervorging, sich immer weiter auffächerte und dabei oft auch ihre eigenen disziplinären Grenzen überschritt. Die Autor:innen und Bücher, die ich für den Einstieg in dieses noch junge Forschungsfeld empfehle, umfassen insbesondere Sammelbände, die einen möglichst breiten Überblick über die unterschiedlichen Perspektiven und Forschungszugänge geben, wie Klimawandel ethnologisch erforscht werden kann. Sie stellen keine erschöpfende Auswahl dar, da es weitere vergleichbare Werke gibt, die jedoch thematisch, methodisch oder geografisch enger gefasst sind und sich daher weniger gut als Ausgangspunkt für eine Beschäftigung mit der Thematik eignen.
... Considéré comme un problème « potentiel » à la fin des années 1980 (Rayner, 1989), le changement climatique a acquis au cours des deux décennies suivantes le statut de fait inconstatable, bénéficiant d'un large consensus dans la communauté scientifique tel que le constate le dernier rapport du Groupe d'Expert Intergouvernemental sur l'évolution du Climat -GIEC 2 (GIEC, 2021). Depuis les années 1990 et a fortiori aujourd'hui, les Petits États Insulaires en Développement (PEID) 3 -dont font partie les îles Cook -sont considérés par cette communauté comme les premiers témoins des effets du changement climatique (Barnett et Campbell, 2010 ;Lazrus, 2012). ...
Cette thèse se propose de comprendre la place qu’occupe le discours scientifique sur le changement climatique dans la vie des gens d’un territoire insulaire considéré comme particulièrement vulnérable à ce sujet: les îles Cook dans le Pacifique Sud. Trop souvent envisagé dans une perspective universelle, ce discours scientifique est tout sauf socialement neutre, puisqu’il s’appuie sur des concepts, des représentations du monde, du temps et de l’espace qui sont propres aux sociétés occidentales. Prenant pour base de réflexion une enquête ethnographique comparative de dix-huit mois menée à Ma’uke et à Manihiki entre 2014 et 2018, la présente étude interroge la perception et l’usage que les populations insulaires font de ce discours depuis son émergence au cours de la décennie 2010. L’un des principaux enseignements de cette thèse est que cet usage s’inscrit dans des stratégies individuelles et sociales qui dépassent le cadre de la problématique environnementale à proprement parler. L’interprétation de la théorie du changement climatique par les habitants des îles, ainsi que les pratiques et les discours qui lui sont associés, sont ainsi indépendants des caractéristiques du problème climatique, qui se voit subordonnée aux statuts sociaux des insulaires, définis selon les rôles et les fonctions qu’ils occupent au sein de la communauté. En l’espèce, à défaut de provoquer une rupture de l’ordre social, la problématique du changement climatique reproduit et même renforce les systèmes de valeurs et de hiérarchies qui préexistaient à son émergence chez les Ma’ukean et les Manihikian. Ce travail montre combien il est nécessaire, pour comprendre les multiples sens qu’une communauté donne au discours scientifique sur le changement climatique, de mettre au cœur de l’analyse les tensions et dynamiques sociales qui la structurent.
... Earlier remarkable contributions, however, have been made by Margaret Mead and Mary Douglas, who can be considered to be one of the first pioneers in examining the social impacts of climate change (cf.Rayner 1989;Douglas 1992a). ...
The Philippines is a country that is very prone to tropical cyclones that cause much economic damage and numerous causalities each year. However, not all parts of the archipelago are equally affected. The main part of the island of Palawan in the country’s south west is rather unlikely to be hit by a strong storm, which is why its inhabitants don’t fear very harmful typhoons. At the same time, however, they consider climate change and its adverse effects as a serious threat, and very destructive cyclones like super typhoon Yolanda in 2013 are well understood as intensified by climate change. In this article I will resolve this apparent contradiction. By means of cognitive anthropological methods, I will demonstrate how the scientific discourse on global climate change and thus scientific climate knowledge is incorporated in, and intertwined with pre-existing local ecological knowledge and ubiquitous national and local discourses about the environment. As the presented empirical data indicates, there exists a widespread conviction within the island’s capital that environment-friendly behaviour mitigates extreme weather events as much as morally bad environmental behaviour induces all kinds of natural hazards, including climate change. Therefore, Palawan serves as a good example to show how the located (re)production of scientific climate change knowledge, its local communication, and its entanglements with other forms of cultural knowledge eventually shape the way people perceive and make sense of climate change.
... That means overcoming our abated but continued aversion to studying power brokers such as scientists, governmental decision makers, industry leaders, journalists, and financial elites, all of whom are much more important in shaping climate change and associated knowledge and policies than are the marginal populations we are accustomed to studying, even if we succeed in assisting the latter in the ways Crate proposes. Climate-related cultural dynamics among these population segments have long been rampant, but few anthropologists have engaged them in their research, despite pioneer Steve Rayner's now nearly twodecade-long provocation that we "stop fiddling while the globe warms" (Rayner 1989). We have marginalized ourselves and lost important opportunities to do research and to intervene farther "upstream" in arenas where knowledge and policy are produced because we have been insufficiently inclined to revise our own cultural (disciplinary) inclinations. ...
Because global climate change is intimately linked to culture, anthropologists are strategically well‐placed to interpret it, communicate information about it, and act in response to it both in the field and at home. Fieldworkers are increasingly encountering reports of the local effects of climate change from their research partners, and it is becoming apparent that indigenous peoples' recognized capacity for adaptation to change may not be sufficient to cope with these effects. Fieldwork among Viliui Sakha of northeastern Siberia suggests an action‐oriented approach to anthropological climate change research that begins by developing cultural models of the local effects of global climate change, goes on to fill in the gaps with Western scientific knowledge, and ends with the dissemination of that information and its use for the development of adaptive strategies, policy recommendations, and advocacy.
... problems' (Crate and Nuttall, 2009, p. 11) and differentiates CO 2 emitters and those affected (Solomon, 2007) in a 'tragedy of the global commons' (Verweij et al., 2006, p. 825). Rayner (1989), Batterbury (2008), Crate (2008) and Lindisfarne (2010) have all written emphatic calls for anthropologists to orient their work towards climate change. This call has been answered by research on the political and communications side of climate change, mitigation and more, ranging from islands disappearing (Rudiak-Gould, 2013) to glacial melt (Cruikshank, 2005). ...
Weather patterns are sets of expected forces and substances which slot into the agricultural and ritual year. In the intersections between risky weathers and the materials which matter for people, knowledge is developed and used. Knowledge of potential risk is expressed in fodder collection practices and care of the chilled body. These material interactions are about safeguarding life and household and therefore livelihood. Applying theory on materiality and risk to livelihood practices in the face of weather, daily life emerges as a site of practical knowledge use. Assessing risk and dealing with the physical vulnerabilities in bodies and other relevant material entities thus become a core element of rural life. Given this, understanding the materials becomes a priority. Risk is knowledge of material interaction – for the subsistence of people.
... That means overcoming our abated but continued aversion to studying power brokers such as scientists, governmental decision makers, industry leaders, journalists, and financial elites, all of whom are much more important in shaping climate change and associated knowledge and policies than are the marginal populations we are accustomed to studying, even if we succeed in assisting the latter in the ways Crate proposes. Climate-related cultural dynamics among these population segments have long been rampant, but few anthropologists have engaged them in their research, despite pioneer Steve Rayner's now nearly twodecade-long provocation that we "stop fiddling while the globe warms" (Rayner 1989). We have marginalized ourselves and lost important opportunities to do research and to intervene farther "upstream" in arenas where knowledge and policy are produced because we have been insufficiently inclined to revise our own cultural (disciplinary) inclinations. ...
Because global climate change is intimately linked to culture, anthropologists are strategically well-placed to interpret it, communicate information about it, and act in response to it both in the field and at home. Fieldworkers are increasingly encountering reports of the local effects of climate change from their research partners, and it is becoming apparent that indigenous peoples' recognized capacity for adaptation to change may not be sufficient to cope with these effects. Fieldwork among Viliui Sakha of northeastern Siberia suggests an action-oriented approach to anthropological climate change research that begins by developing cultural models of the local effects of global climate change, goes on to fill in the gaps with Western scientific knowledge, and ends with the dissemination of that information and its use for the development of adaptive strategies, policy recommendations, and advocacy.
À Ma’uke et Manihiki, (îles Cook – Pacifique sud), il est une représentation du changement climatique qui soulève de nombreuses interrogations : celle qui consiste à voir des effets positifs du changement climatique là où le discours général tend à ne mettre en avant que des effets particulièrement néfastes. Le traitement de la question de la positivité des effets du changement climatique souffre d’un certain paradoxe : celui d’être peu audible dans les discours officiels alors même qu’il semble avoir une place réelle dans des réalités de terrain observées. Dans cet article, nous allons aborder cette question en formulant l’hypothèse suivante : l’existence de ce discours mélioratif sur le changement climatique trouve son origine dans le rapport que les insulaires entretiennent avec leur environnement, et ce, bien avant l’émergence du changement climatique. Pour cela, les représentations insulaires seront mises en perspective avec celles des acteurs environnementaux. Nous verrons alors que deux définitions distinctes du concept d’environnement se dessinent, à travers les notions de nature-environnante et d’environnement originel. À partir de ces deux conceptions, deux rapports à l’environnement seront décrits, correspondant à deux manières d’interpréter la dynamique environnementale. Le premier rapport, dit conservationniste, associé à la conception des acteurs environnementaux, envisage tout changement comme une altération d’un équilibre préexistant à la présence humaine. Le second rapport, dit pragmatique, associé à la conception des insulaires, considère le changement comme une nécessité qui permet d’améliorer la condition héritée des générations précédentes. Nous conclurons que le discours positivant certains effets du changement climatique s’intègre à une conception locale envisageant chaque changement observé non pas comme devant être rejeté par principe, mais au contraire, comme étant un indice potentiel d’amélioration de son environnement.
In 1989, Steve Rayner chided fellow anthropologists for “fiddling while the world warms.” This was the starting point of a decades‐long application to human‐made climate change of the cultural theory that he had developed with Mary Douglas and Michael Thompson. It culminated in a call to develop “clumsy” solutions for addressing the issue. Since then, the concept of clumsy solutions has been applied, praised, and criticised. To clarify its strengths and weaknesses, I first set out cultural theory and explain how the notion of clumsy solutions was derived from it. I then assess the extent to which this notion has increased our understanding of climate change governance. I do so by breaking up the application of this concept into seven predictions, concerning: (1) the major perspectives among stakeholders on how to resolve climate change; (2) the fate of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol; (3) the feasibility of international emissions trading; (4) the possibility of making renewable energy competitive; (5) the need for domestic governmental action to realize this possibility; (6) the effectiveness of a nonbinding global treaty to combat climate change; and (7) the need to explore adaptation, carbon capture, and geoengineering. I show that these predictions have stood the test of time. Finally, I discuss the roles that the concept of clumsy solutions can play in future climate change governance. This article is written in memory of Steve Rayner, one of the first social scientists to focus on climate change.
This article is categorized under: Social Status of Climate Change Knowledge > Sociology/Anthropology of Climate Knowledge
Climate, History, Society, Culture > Thought Leaders
This essay examines climatic and ontological change within the Anthropocene among the Makushi in Guyana. During fieldwork in the Makushi village of Surama, the author was frequently told how the wet and dry seasons have become irregular, the temperature has increased, and ecological changes have occurred in the forests and savannas. These perceived changes impact Makushi subsistence practices and have emerged concurrent with the local development of eco-tourism and increased interactions with outside entities in Surama. The author examines local ontological shifts related to these expanded interactions with outsiders, who advocate concepts of ‘climate change’, ‘sustainability’, and ‘conservation’. Recent encounters with climate change and outside entities in Guyana provide an ethnographic case of the broader climatic and related changes occurring in Amazonia. This case is analysed herein through an ontological approach. Based on fieldwork data, the author examines how local transformations are situated within the greater dimensions of the Anthropocene.
The concept of global environmental change (GEC) is generally held to be of two types: cumulative and systemic. The idea of the global environment is largely a post‐World War II scientific and political achievement, initially launched as a unifying idea for a humanity threatened by nuclear extinction. Anthropology has been slow to engage with the idea of systemic GEC, largely due to its traditional focus on local place‐based societies. Furthermore, the “local” as understood by anthropologists is a fundamentally different mode of apprehension from that which is constructed by downscaling global models. The discipline is increasingly contributing not just to the understanding of local effects but also to wider issues of public perception, consumption, formation of scientific knowledge, and global environmental governance. Anthropology also has a responsibility to challenge the coercive potential of the idea of GEC—especially its latest formulation as the Anthropocene—to be co‐opted by particular policy agendas.
Climate change anthropology to date has devoted itself primarily to ‘observation studies’: investigations of how communities perceive and respond to the local physical impacts of global warming. I argue for the utility, and necessity, of a complementary research programme in ‘reception studies’: investigations of how communities receive, interpret and adopt the global scientific discourse of climate change that is now spreading rapidly to even the most remote societies. Using the Marshall Islands as a case study, I demonstrate the powerful influence of this discourse on local views of environmental change, belying recent arguments that anthropologists wishing to access emic notions of climate change must exclude the influence of foreign scientific education from their analysis.
Following the collapse of the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December 2009, Evo Morales, the President of Bolivia, called for a World People's Conference on Climate Change. 35,000 people attended the conference in Cochabamba in April determined to keep climate politics on the global agenda. Nancy Lindisfarne writes about the growth of this international social movement with a keen eye to how anthropologists, and the discipline of anthropology as a whole, are responding practically and theoretically to the social consequences of climate change.
For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.
Contemporary societies are being transformed by growing preoccupation with global environmental risks.\\,\\ The scientific basis for worries about human-induced climate change has consolidated, but many dimensions and implications remain uncertain and imprecise. In this area of what has been called post-normal science, facts are uncertain, values in dispute, stakes high, and decisions urgent.\\ Plurality is its essence, and meaning-making fills gaps left by uncertainties. Actors - scientists, decision-makers, industry representatives, and members of environmental groups and the general public - variously clash and converge in their attempts to shape how societies understand the threat and what should be done about it. Among those favoring preventive action, some downplay or deny the uncertainties. Others - often with important leadership and financing by vested interests - exaggerate the uncertainties, or define them and the sociopolitical and economic implications of action to reduce carbon emissions in ways that undermine policy. Although everyone involved tends to focus on scientific arguments, choices of explanation by all the involved actors, and their very engagement in the debate, reveal political arrangements, moral commitments, and sociocultural ties as much as individual or group interests.\\. Pages: 162-171
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