Abstract

Based on an ethnographic account of subsistence use of Amazonian forests by Wapishana people in Guyana, Edges, Frontiers, Fringes examines the social, cultural and behavioral bases for sustainability and resilience in indigenous resource use. Developing an original framework for holistic analysis, it demonstrates that flexible interplay among multiple modes of environmental understanding and decision-making allows the Wapishana to navigate social-ecological complexity successfully in ways that reconcile short-term material needs with long-term maintenance and enhancement of the resource base.

Thomas Henfrey is Senior Research Fellow at the Schumacher Institute for Sustainable Systems and a collaborator at the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Change at Lisbon University. His previous publications include Wapishana Ethnoecology, Permaculture and Climate Change Adaptation and the edited volume Resilience, Community Action and Societal Transformation.