The Demographic factor in environmental anthropology

Population and demographic dynamics are characteristic traits of modern environmental anthropology. In contrast to the ambiguity of the terms used in the discipline’s earliest studies of the relations between human groups and their environment, the trend towards defining these groups as populations in the 1960s introduced a higher degree of precision into the analysis. The accuracy of ethnographic observations, the attention to the dynamics of change, and the use of a terminology derived from the natural sciences soon emerged as clear advantages of the use of the categories and models of demographic studies in anthropology (Howell 1986; Kertzer and Fricke 1997).

The issues addressed from a demographic perspective in the study of human environmental relations, as well as the terminology used in the studies, have varied greatly depending on the theoretical priorities of the moment. In this sense, most classical monographs considered demographic variables as mere data, lacking any explanatory power. In common with many other cultural and environmental variables, factors such as the size or territorial distribution of human groups were simply noted as characteristics, and no consequences were drawn for the interpretation of the issues under consideration (e.g., Forde 1934).