Environmental Anthropology: Subject Matters, Approaches, and Applications

Environmental anthropology is one of the sub-fields of cultural anthropology whose ultimate goal is studying types of relationships between humans and their surrounding environment. By utilizing the resources in this field, we seek to identify common issues, approaches and attitudes, and finally its applied efforts. Accordingly, the structure of this article in the body section is divided into three parts. In the first part, by reviewing the latest English articles from 2018, in the field of environmental anthropology, the most important issues considered by environmental anthropologists have been studied. The important topics refer to the cultural experience of environmental challenges and the processes of adaptation to these challenges. The second part studies the specific approach of anthropologists defining their relation to the environmental challenges. To participate in environmental challenges, anthropologists define various roles for themselves, including interpreters, translators, mediators, facilitators, and actors. In the third part, while reviewing the most important sources dealing with applied environmental anthropology, we examine different types of applications and participations in environmental anthropology. Finally, a model of anthropological participation in the study of environmental challenges is presented, which consists of three pivotal components: knowledge, action and scale comprehensiveness.