The Cultural Construction of Nature - Including Resources

Abstract

From Introduction:

"This paper addresses the issue of cultural perceptions of nature. With his works, Roy A. Rappaports demonstrates that people act towards nature with reference to cultural constructions of nature - or 'cognized environment', in his terms. The implications of these acts can be traced in an 'operational model' of nature (which of course is also a representation).

"The Kulung Rai is an ethnic group living in the remote eastern hilly region of Nepal. They exploit a wide range of natural resources, through cultivation, animal husbandry and utilization of forest products. The focus of my research was originally on 'management of common property resources.' After finishing an MA thesis based on fieldwork conducted in 1991, I realized that I had written it with an insufficient knowledge about how the Kulung Rai perceive nature (e.g. identify something as being a resource).

"A short fieldwork in 1994 gave me the opportunity to improve this shortcoming. I found that e.g. some trees were not used for some of the purposes that seems 'natural,' given the inherent qualities of these trees: Posing can be used as firewood by some people and not by others. No one will burn kaarpau. A cultural explanation for such usages is needed, and suggestions for describing them in an interpretive framework will be given in this paper."