31 Facts About Roy Ellen

Roy Ellen studied anthropology at the London School of Economics and Leiden and is most known for his extensive fieldwork in East Indonesia with the Nuaulu people of Seram.

Roy Ellen started his fieldwork in the early 1970s and has remained active in the field of environmental anthropology through publishing, teaching and field research.

Roy Ellen has recently embarked on a series of major studies of indigenous knowledge and of the consequences of deforestation in parts of Indonesia and in Brunei.

Roy Ellen has contributed notably to work on anthropological history and method.

Roy Ellen has been carrying out ethnobiological fieldwork in eastern Indonesia since the early 1970s, working variously with the Nuaulu people of Seram ; on the islands of Sulawesi, Gorom, Seram Laut, Banda and Ambon-Lease; plus some addition fieldwork into the social impacts of logging at Brunei.

Roy Ellen proposes ways to deal with the categorical status of nature.

Dr Roy Ellen uses his extensive experience with the Nuaulu to draw on as an example to begin identifying and cultivating cultural phenomena, which explores and permits us to the existence of nature as a domain.

Roy Ellen emphasises the indigenous knowledge of the rainforest in preserving the identity and culture of indigenous people whose ways of life are threatened.

Roy Ellen had observed that historically the indigenous people have perceived and interacted with the rainforest in many diverse ways.

Roy Ellen implores conservationists to take indigenous knowledge into account and form a judgment based on evidence for that particular situation and not generalisation.

Dr Roy Ellen recognises that individual subsistence techniques differ among particular populations and have different ecological profiles when it comes to energy transfer, limiting factors, and carrying capacity.

Roy Ellen focuses on the importance of indigenous ecological knowledge and practices and collaborations between local and outside knowledge effect and ultimately construct culture and how society functions.

Roy Ellen's article "Local and Scientific Understanding of Forest Diversity on Seram, Eastern Indonesia" published in 2006, is an excellent literary example of the importance and relevance local environmental knowledge has in scientific understanding.

Roy Ellen focuses on the indigenous people and their contributions, knowledge and transmission of culture.

Roy Ellen has influenced many fields of anthropology including cultural ecology contributing to the knowledge base of ethno-biology, and environmental anthropology among others.

One of Roy Ellen's strengths is his ability to connect themes and theories to create a more holistic depiction of an issue.

Roy Ellen's work offers a unique synergistic perspective on human cultural evolution and our relationship to the environment.

Roy Ellen believes they co-exist but are not static and can change according to circumstances overtime.

Roy Ellen's findings have informed the studies of subsistence behaviours, the social impact of deforestation, inter- island trade and questions the relationship between nature and culture.

Roy Ellen applied a historical perspective to understand the Nuaulu's current relationship with nature.

Roy Ellen is influenced by Leslie White's energy capture theory.

The work of Roy Ellen contributed to anthropologist's understanding of the interrelationship between nature and culture and helped anthropology contribute to practical debates that depend on definitions of nature such as sustainable development.

Roy Ellen focused on the evolution and transmission of ecological knowledge and environmental stress in the context of sustainable development.

Roy Ellen theorised that humans needed to adjust to new conditions, cope with dangers or improve existing conditions through modifications to their behaviour.

Roy Ellen found individuals adapt through their economic and social relationships.

Roy Ellen's research helps understand the ways in which culture and nature are synergistic and important to human evolution.

Roy Ellen is one of the foremost British anthropologists associated with ethno-biology and has made major contributions to field.

Roy Ellen engaged both psychological and anthropological ideas to combine the two approaches effectively.

Roy Ellen believed that the existing assumptions of cultural uniformity on the ethnographic analysis of categories were not correct, as variation was evident.

Roy Ellen used the animal classifications of the Nuaulu people to present his point.

Roy Ellen's point being that in regards to the classifications of animals made by the Nuaulu people, one must pay attention to different types and contexts of variation.