Studying Culture and History in Exotic Places and at Home

Abstract

Studies of culture and history, although never central to environment---behavior (EB) research, have long enjoyed a place in a field largely influenced by environmental psychology. Considerations of culture, perhaps the broadest of all frameworks for examining human behavior, have been a significant area of continuous investigation, however, while historical approaches have traditionally been only a minor aspect of the work. This chapter critically examines a selected sample of cultural and historical studies from the perspective of an anthropologist working in the EB field and outlines major contributions to the study of culture---environment relations.