Nature–culture Divide
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The nature–culture divide is the notion of a dichotomy between humans and the environment. It is a theoretical foundation of contemporary
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
that considers whether nature and culture function separately from one another, or if they are in a continuous biotic relationship with each other. In East Asian society, nature and culture are conceptualized as
dichotomous A dichotomy () is a partition of a set, partition of a whole (or a set) into two parts (subsets). In other words, this couple of parts must be * jointly exhaustive: everything must belong to one part or the other, and * mutually exclusive: nothi ...
(separate and distinct domains of reference). Some researchers consider culture to be "man's secret adaptive weapon"Greenwood, David J and Stini, William A. (1977) ''Nature, Culture, and Human History'', New York: Harper and Row, 393–408 in the sense that it is the core means of survival. It has been observed that the terms "nature" and "culture" can not necessarily be translated into non-western languages, for example, the Native American scholar John Mohawk utilizes the term nature to describe "everything that supports life on the planet," specifically when discussing the limits of science to ever fully understand nature's complexity.Nelson, Melissa K., 2008, ''Original Instructions: Indigenous Teachings for a Sustainable Future'', Rochester: Collective Heritage Institute There is an idea that small-scale societies can have a more
symbiotic Symbiosis (Ancient Greek : living with, companionship < : together; and ''bíōsis'': living) is any type of a close and long-term biolo ...
relationship with nature. Less symbiotic relations with nature are limiting small-scale communities' access to water and food resources. It was also argued that the contemporary man-nature divide manifests itself in different aspects of alienation and conflicts. Greenwood and Stini argue that agriculture is only monetarily cost-efficient because it takes much more to produce than one can get out of eating their own crops, e.g. "high culture cannot come at low energy costs". During the 1960s and 1970s,
Sherry Ortner Sherry Beth Ortner (born September 19, 1941) is an American cultural anthropologist. She is a Distinguished Professor of Anthropology (Emerita) at UCLA. Ortner is known for her contributions to social theory and feminist theory, as well as for ...
showed the parallel between the divide and
gender role A gender role, or sex role, is a social norm deemed appropriate or desirable for individuals based on their gender or sex. Gender roles are usually centered on conceptions of masculinity and femininity. The specifics regarding these gendered ...
s with women as nature and men as culture. Feminist scholars question whether the dichotomies between nature and culture, or man and woman, are essential. For example, Donna Haraway's works on
cyborg theory "A Cyborg Manifesto" is an essay written by Donna Haraway and first published in 1985 in the '' Socialist Review'' under the title "A Manifesto for Cyborgs: Science, Technology, and Socialist Feminism in the 1980s." In it, the concept of the cybo ...
, as well as companion species gesture toward a notion of "naturecultures": a new way of understanding non-discrete assemblages relating humans to technology and animals.


History

Within European culture, land was an inherited right for each family's firstborn son and every other child would need to find another way to own land. European expansion would be motivated by this desire to claim land and extract resources through technological developments or the invention of public
trading Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market (economics), market. Traders generally negotiate throu ...
companies. Other factors include religious (e.g.
Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...
) and
discovery Discovery may refer to: * Discovery (observation), observing or finding something unknown * Discovery (fiction), a character's learning something unknown * Discovery (law), a process in courts of law relating to evidence Discovery, The Discovery ...
(e.g. voyages) purposes. In addition to the desire for expansion, Europeans had the resources for external growth. They had ships, maps, and knowledge—a complex of politics, economy and
military tactics Military tactics encompasses the art of organizing and employing fighting forces on or near the battlefield. They involve the application of four battlefield functions which are closely related – kinetic or firepower, Mobility (military), mobil ...
that they believed were superior for ruling. These factors helped them to possess and rule the people of the lands they came in contact with. One large element of this was Western European's strong cultural belief in
private property Private property is a legal designation for the ownership of property by non-governmental Capacity (law), legal entities. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which is owned by a state entity, and from Collective ownership ...
.
Colonialist Colonialism is the control of another territory, natural resources and people by a foreign group. Colonizers control the political and tribal power of the colonised territory. While frequently an Imperialism, imperialist project, colonialism c ...
s from Europe saw the American landscape as desolate, savage, dark and
waste Waste are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor Value (economics), economic value. A wast ...
and thus needed to be tamed in order for it to be safe and
habitable Habitability is the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws, it is said to be habitable. In extreme environ ...
. Once cleared and settled, these areas were depicted as “ Eden itself." Land was a
commodity In economics, a commodity is an economic goods, good, usually a resource, that specifically has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the Market (economics), market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to w ...
and as such, anyone who did not use it to turn a
profit Profit may refer to: Business and law * Profit (accounting), the difference between the purchase price and the costs of bringing to market * Profit (economics), normal profit and economic profit * Profit (real property), a nonpossessory inter ...
could have it taken from them. John Locke was one responsible for these ideals. Yet the commodities didn't end with the acquisition of land. Profit became the main driver for all resources that would follow (including
slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...
). The
cultural divide A cultural divide is "a boundary in society that separates communities whose social economic structures, opportunities for success, conventions, styles, are so different that they have substantially different psychologies". A cultural divide is th ...
that existed between Europeans and the native groups they colonised allowed the Europeans to capitalise on both local and
global trade International trade is the exchange of capital, goods, and services across international borders or territories because there is a need or want of goods or services. (See: World economy.) In most countries, such trade represents a significan ...
. So whether the ruling of these other lands and peoples was direct or indirect, the diffusion of European ideals and practices spread to nearly every country on the globe.
Imperialism Imperialism is the maintaining and extending of Power (international relations), power over foreign nations, particularly through expansionism, employing both hard power (military and economic power) and soft power (diplomatic power and cultura ...
and
globalisation Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...
were also at play in creating a ruling dominion for the European nation, but it did not come without challenges. The native groups they encountered saw their relationship with the land in a more
holistic Holism is the interdisciplinary idea that systems possess properties as wholes apart from the properties of their component parts. Julian Tudor Hart (2010''The Political Economy of Health Care''pp.106, 258 The aphorism "The whole is greater than t ...
view. They saw the land as a shared entity of which they were a part, but the Europeans saw it as a commodity that could and should be divided and owned by individuals to then buy and sell as they pleased. And that “wilderness” is that the connection between humans and nature is broken. For native communities, human intervention was a part of their ecological practices.


Theories


The Role of Society

Pre-existing movements include a spectrum of environmental thoughts. Authors, Büscher and Fletcher, present these various movements on a condensed map. Though it is simplified in thought and definition, it offers an excellent way for readers to see the major conservation movements plotted together in which elements of their philosophy are highlighted. The following movements are as follows: mainstream conservation, new conservation, neoprotectionism, and their newly proposed convivial conservation. Each movement is plotted against two major factors:
capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...
and the human-nature divide. Mainstream conservation supports the human-nature divide and capitalism, new conservation supports the human-nature divide but rejects capitalism, neoprotectionism rejects capitalism but supports the human-nature divide, and convivial conservation rejects both the human-nature divide and capitalism. This newest movement, though reminiscent of previous ones, sets itself apart by addressing the
political climate The political climate is the aggregate mood and opinions of a political society at a particular time. It is generally used to describe when the state of mood and opinion is changing or unstable. The phrase has origins from both ancient Greece and ...
more directly. They argue this is important because without it, their movement will only gain as much traction as those before it, i.e. very little. Lasting change will come, not only from an overhaul in human-nature relations and capitalist thought but from a political system that will enact and support these changes.


The Role of Science

The
nature Nature is an inherent character or constitution, particularly of the Ecosphere (planetary), ecosphere or the universe as a whole. In this general sense nature refers to the Scientific law, laws, elements and phenomenon, phenomena of the physic ...
culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
divide is intertwined with the social versus biological debate since both are implications of each other. As viewed in earlier forms of
anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, society, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behav ...
, it is believed that
genetic determinism Biological determinism, also known as genetic determinism, is the belief that human behaviour is directly controlled by an individual's genes or some component of their physiology, generally at the expense of the role of the environment, wheth ...
de-emphasises the importance of culture, making it obsolete. However, more modern views show that culture is valued more than nature because everyday aspects of culture have a wider impact on how humans see the world, rather than just our genetic makeup. Older anthropological theories have separated the two, such as
Franz Boas Franz Uri Boas (July 9, 1858 – December 21, 1942) was a German-American anthropologist and ethnomusicologist. He was a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology". His work is associated with the mov ...
, who claimed that social organisation and behaviour are purely the transmission of social norms and not necessarily the passing of heritable traits. Instead of using such a contrasting approach, more modern anthropologists see
Neo-Darwinism Neo-Darwinism is generally used to describe any integration of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection with Gregor Mendel's theory of genetics. It mostly refers to evolutionary theory from either 1895 (for the combinations of D ...
as an outline for culture, therefore nature is essentially guiding how culture develops. When looking at adaptations, anthropologists such as Daniel Nettle state that animals choose their mates based on their environment, which is shaped directly by culture. More importantly, the adaptations seen in nature are a result of evoked nature, which is defined as cultural characteristics which shape the environment and that then queue changes in
phenotypes In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (physical form and structure), its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological properti ...
for future generations. Put simply, cultures that promote more effective resource allocation and a chance for survival are more likely to be successful and produce more developed societies and cultures that feed off of each other. Transmitted culture can also be used to bridge the gap between the two even more, because it uses a trial and error based approach that shows how humans are constantly learning, and that they use social learning to influence individual choices. This is seen best in how the more superficial aspects of culture still are intertwined with nature and genetic variation. For example, there are
beauty standards Physical attractiveness is the degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. The term often implies sexual attractiveness or desirability, but can also be distinct from either. There are many ...
intertwined into the culture because they are associated with better
survival rate Survival rate is a part of survival analysis. It is the proportion of people in a study or treatment group still alive at a given period of time after diagnosis. It is a method of describing prognosis in certain disease conditions, and can be use ...
s, yet they also serve personal interests which allows for individual breeding pairs to understand how they fit into society. By learning from each other, nature becomes more intertwined with culture since they reinforce each other.
Sandra Harding Sandra G. Harding (March 29, 1935 – March 5, 2025) was an American philosopher of feminist and postcolonial theory, epistemology, research methodology, and philosophy of science, who directed the UCLA Center for the Study of Women from 199 ...
critiqued dominant science as "posit ngas necessary, and/or as facts, a set of dualisms—culture vs. nature; rational mind vs. prerational body and irrational emotions and values; objectivity vs. subjectivity; public vs. private—and then links men and masculinity to the former and women and femininity to the latter in each dichotomy". Instead, they argue for a more holistic approach to knowledge-seeking which recognizes that every attempt at objectivity is bound up in the social, historical, and political subjectivity of the knowledge producer.


Real-World Examples


National Parks

There is a historical belief that wilderness must not only be tamed to be protected but that humans also need to be outside of it. In fact, there have been instances where the removal of people from an area has actually increased illegal activities and negative environmental effects. National parks may not be particularly known as places of increased violence, but they do perpetuate the idea of humans being removed from nature to protect it. They also create a symbol of power for humans over nature, as these sites have become tourist attractions.
Ecotourism Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the Ecological conservation, conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conserv ...
, even with environmentally friendly practices in effect, still represents a
commodification of nature The commodification of nature is an area of research within critical environmental studies that is concerned with the ways in which natural entities and processes are made exchangeable through the market, and the implications thereof. Drawing upon ...
. Another example can be seen in “the great frontier.” The American frontier became the nation's most sacred
myth of origin An origin myth is a type of myth that explains the beginnings of a natural or social aspect of the world. Creation myths are a type of origin myth narrating the formation of the universe. However, numerous cultures have stories that take place a ...
. Yet the lands protected as monuments to the American past were constructed as pristine and uninhabited by removing the people that lived and survived on those lands. Some authors have come to describe this type of conservation as conservation-far, where humans and nature are kept separate. The other end of the conservation spectrum then, would be conservation-near, which would mimic native ecological practices of humans integrated into the care of nature.


See also

*
Nature versus nurture Nature versus nurture is a long-standing debate in biology and society about the relative influence on human beings of their genetics, genetic inheritance (nature) and the environmental conditions of their development (nurture). The alliterative ex ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nature-culture divide Cultural anthropology Ecological theories Culture and the environment