Miles Richardson

Donald Wayne Davis

This volume on coastal systems and coastal research is in honor of H. Jesse Walker, who has takes his place with the original founders of the present-day Louisiana State University Department of Geography and Anthropology -- Drs. Fred B. Kniffen, Richard J. Russell, Robert C. West, and William G. Haag.Through its coverage of coastal research from theory to applied, from modeling in the lab to measuring in the field, from the varied lessons of managing the human impact on the coast, and from distant Hawaii, to California, to New Jersey, and to the adjacent Gulf of Mexico, the volume replicates in its incomplete fashion the wide-ranging interest and persistent adventure of its honoree.

Papers in Honor of H. Jesse Walker

The Coastal Zone

Needwood describes a search for deep nature in the local landscape. Rooted in the long tradition of British nature writing, it is a celebration of the joy that can be extracted from ordinary things in the natural world. Needwood is a journey that demands increasingly lyrical prose as the natural year is rediscovered; the oak, the rook and blackbird s song; the soft, effortless fascination of nature. Be inspired to begin your own search and discover your own natural health service.

Needwood

Legion

Small Town in a Developing Society

San Pedro, Colombia

Experience and Symbol

Place

"The author relates anthropological theory to personal and cultural experience. He shows how the scientist, as scientist and person, can reconcile and integrate bias, observation, data, emotion, and inference. He presents a rich mixture of analytical arguments, biographical commentary, and fictional narratives. The stories and the novella depict life in our culture in an artful way. What makes the fiction different from that of most novelists is Richardson's cross-cultural vantage point, which provides a powerful perspective. I found it fascinating." -- Daniel W. Ingersoll, Jr., St. Mary's College of Maryland "The notion of an anthropologist preparing a book of mainly fiction to articulate and elucidate anthropology's project makes good sense at this time, when many anthropologists and other students of human life are discussing our descriptions as fiction/narrative. I found each chapter fascinating." -- Gilbert Kushner, University of South Florida, Tampa Unlike the literary tradition of ethnographic fiction that attempts to bridge the gap between the world of the Western reader and the world of the exotic other of distant places, the fiction presented here focuses on the bridge itself. Richardson documents the emergence of the anthropologist's life in the context of the culture of the American South.

Cry Lonesome and Other Accounts of the Anthropologist's Project

How did our relationship with nature become broken, why does it matter and how can we fix it? From a past in which we were embedded in the natural world, revolutions in farming, science and industry have seen the human bond with nature eroded with the promise of prosperity offering happiness and meaning in life. This mindset may have delivered comfortable living for many, but there is growing recognition that the root cause of wildlife loss and the warming climate is people’s disconnection from nature, which is also an important factor in our mental health. Yet solutions focus on technical fixes to treat the symptoms of that damaged relationship, such as reducing carbon emissions and increasing habitat. What we urgently need is a whole new way of thinking. Reconnection explores our hidden links with nature through the science of nature connectedness, setting out a way to revivify the relationship across society. Here is a route to a meaningful life that unites both human and nature’s wellbeing for a truly sustainable future. What's more, everybody has a role to play. From business leaders to conservationists, teachers to medics, from drivers to walkers, we can all reduce the damage we do and find new ways to bring nature into our lives. This timely book considers the problems scientifically, then offers simple, practical, positive steps for how we can all work towards a better world.

Fixing our Broken Relationship with Nature

Reconnection

How did our relationship with nature become broken, why does it matter and how can we fix it? From a past in which we were embedded in the natural world, revolutions in farming, science and industry have seen the human bond with nature eroded with the promise of prosperity offering happiness and meaning in life. This mindset may have delivered comfortable living for many, but there is growing recognition that the root cause of wildlife loss and the warming climate is people's disconnection from nature, which is also an important factor in our mental health. Yet solutions focus on technical fixes to treat the symptoms of that damaged relationship, such as reducing carbon emissions and increasing habitat. What we urgently need is a whole new way of thinking. Reconnection explores our hidden links with nature through the science of nature connectedness, setting out a way to revivify the relationship across society. Here is a route to a meaningful life that unites both human and nature's wellbeing for a truly sustainable future. What's more, everybody has a role to play. From business leaders to conservationists, teachers to medics, from drivers to walkers, we can all reduce the damage we do and find new ways to bring nature into our lives. This timely book considers the problems scientifically, then offers simple, practical, positive steps for how we can all work towards a better world.

Fixing Our Broken Relationship with Nature

Eric Brymer

Elizabeth Louise Freeman

In recent years there has been a growing body of evidence from fields such as public health, architecture, ecology, landscape, forestry, psychology, sport science, psychiatry, geography suggesting that nature enhances psychological health and wellbeing. Physical activity in the presence of nature, feelings of connection to nature, engagement with nature, specific environmental features (e.g. therapeutic, water and trees) and images of real and virtual nature have all been posited as important wellbeing facilitators. Thus, the association between natural environments and health outcomes might be more complex than initially understood (Pritchard, Richardson, Sheffield, & Mcewan, 2019). Despite the number of studies showing improvements in psychological health and wellbeing through nature-based physical activities or feelings of connection to nature the exact role and influence of the natural environment in this process is still rather unclear (Brymer, Davids, & Mallabon, 2014; Karmanov & Hamel, 2008). Research is also beginning to consider the importance of individual differences, meaning and the person-environment relationship (Freeman, Akhurst, Bannigan & James, 2016; Freeman & Akhurst, 2015) in the development of wellbeing and health outcomes. Furthermore traditional theoretical notions, such as Biophilia, topophilia, restoration theories and stress reduction theories typically used to interpret findings are also being critiqued. Often one of the main barriers for practitioners is the vast array of theories that claim to effectively explain research findings but that tend to be only partially relevant (e.g. for Physical activity or restoration), focus on the characteristics of the person (e.g. nature relatedness) and only some features of the landscape (e.g. therapeutic landscapes). This special edition therefore brings together cutting edge ideas and research from a wide set of disciplines with the purpose of exploring interdisciplinary or trans-disciplinary approaches to understanding the psychological health and wellbeing benefits of human-nature interactions.

One Health: The Well-being Impacts of Human-nature Relationships

Winner of the James Mooney Award of the Southern Anthropological Society In this bracingly original anthropological study, Miles Richardson draws on forty years of empirical research to explore the paradox that while humans must die like all evolving life forms, they have adapted a unique symbolic communication that makes them aware of their naturally occurring fate; and through word and artifact, they dwell upon that discovery. Using the concepts of culture and place, he illuminates how two groups, Catholics in Spanish America and Baptists in the American South, create “being-in-Christ” and thereby “put death in its place.” The book combines biological, cultural, archaeological, and linguistic anthropology; a rigorous evolutionary framework; and a postmodern dialogic stance to view humanity as inescapably a product of nature without sacrificing the interpretative social constructions that “turn a primate into a poem.” Hard-won ethnographic detail and moving religious insight make this an enthralling work.

Miles Richardson

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