Andrew P. Vayda
Encyclopedia
Andrew P. Vayda is Professor Emeritus of Anthropology
and Ecology
at Rutgers University
and Senior Research Associate of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia. Formerly a professor at Columbia University, he has taught also at the University of Indonesia
and other Indonesian universities and at the University of British Columbia
. He specializes in methodology and explanation at the interface between social and ecological science and has directed and participated in numerous research projects on people’s interactions with forests in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Currently he is taking part in a CIFOR research project on anthropogenic carbon emissions from Indonesian peatlands. He has published some hundred articles and several books, including, most recently, Explaining Human Actions and Environmental Changes, a selection of his essays on explanation and explanation-oriented research in the social sciences and human ecology, published by AltaMira Press in 2009, and Causal Explanation for Social Scientists: A Reader, co-edited by him and Bradley Walters, published by AltaMira Press in 2011. The journal, Human Ecology, was founded by him, and he was its editor for five years. He serves at present on the editorial boards of Anthropological Theory, Borneo Research Council Publications, Forests, and Human Ecology. A festschrift in his honor, Against the Grain: The Vayda Tradition in Human Ecology and Ecological Anthropology, with a concluding chapter by him on “Causal Explanation as a Research Goal,” was published in 2008 by AltaMira Press.
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
and Ecology
Ecology
Ecology is the scientific study of the relations that living organisms have with respect to each other and their natural environment. Variables of interest to ecologists include the composition, distribution, amount , number, and changing states of organisms within and among ecosystems...
at Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
and Senior Research Associate of the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in Bogor, Indonesia. Formerly a professor at Columbia University, he has taught also at the University of Indonesia
University of Indonesia
The Universitas Indonesia, is a state, comprehensive world class university located in Depok, West Java and Salemba, Jakarta, Indonesia. Universitas Indonesia is the oldest tertiary-level educational institution in Indonesia...
and other Indonesian universities and at the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
. He specializes in methodology and explanation at the interface between social and ecological science and has directed and participated in numerous research projects on people’s interactions with forests in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Currently he is taking part in a CIFOR research project on anthropogenic carbon emissions from Indonesian peatlands. He has published some hundred articles and several books, including, most recently, Explaining Human Actions and Environmental Changes, a selection of his essays on explanation and explanation-oriented research in the social sciences and human ecology, published by AltaMira Press in 2009, and Causal Explanation for Social Scientists: A Reader, co-edited by him and Bradley Walters, published by AltaMira Press in 2011. The journal, Human Ecology, was founded by him, and he was its editor for five years. He serves at present on the editorial boards of Anthropological Theory, Borneo Research Council Publications, Forests, and Human Ecology. A festschrift in his honor, Against the Grain: The Vayda Tradition in Human Ecology and Ecological Anthropology, with a concluding chapter by him on “Causal Explanation as a Research Goal,” was published in 2008 by AltaMira Press.
Work
His works include:- Causal Explanation for Social Scientists: A Reader (with Bradley Walters), Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press. 2011
- Explaining Human Actions and Environmental Changes, Lanham, MD: AltaMira Press. 2009
- War in Ecological Perspective, New York: Plenum Press. 1976.
- Environment and Cultural Behavior, Garden City, NY: The Natural history Press. 1969
- Peoples and Cultures of the Pacific, Garden City, NY: The Natural history Press. 1968
- Maori Warfare, Wellington, NZ: Polynesian Society. 1960.
Graduate and PhD Students
Past graduate and PhD students include:- Kevin Flesher, Research Director, Centro de Estudos de Biodiversidade, Michelin Ecological Reserve, Ituberá, Brazil.
- Bonnie J. McCay, Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor, Rutgers University.
- Christine Padoch, Director, Forests and Livelihoods Program, Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).
- Iwan Tjitradjaja, Head, Department of Anthropology, University of Indonesia.
- http://www.mta.ca/faculty/socsci/geograph/walters.htm Bradley B. Walters, Professor of Geography & Environment at Mount Allison University (Sackville, New Brunswick, Canada), lead editor of Against the Grain and co-editor of Causal Explanation for Social Scientists: A Reader.