The Environment and Anthropology Committee focuses on environmental issues as perceived from a diverse range of anthropological perspectives, including various theoretical viewpoints, and practical applications and engagements. It supports the role of anthropology in relation to the environment wherever it may be appropriate -– both within academic institutions and beyond in the wider community.

It encourages and supports research and engagement with relevant issues at the RAI and amongst its Fellows, seeks to raise awareness of anthropology’s contributions to environmental issues with the general public, and liaises and collaborates with other institutions, disciplines, bodies and interest groups in advancing relevant enquiries and understanding while retaining a critical independence.

Secretary Giovanna Capponi

The current Committee members are:
(Click on the highlighted name for more information)

Anthropolgist and the Environment

The Environment and Anthropology Committee of the RAI have put together a list of anthropologists who are interested in environmental issues.  This list is a resource for other anthropologists and for those outside anthropology looking for a particular expertise.  You can search the list here.

Weather Matters

Emerging out of the RAI Anthropology, Weather and Climate Change conference at the British Museum in May 2016, the Weather Matters hub is a space for vibrant communication among social science scholars (and more broadly) with an interest in weather and climate change. Not a journal, it is somewhere for the currently disparate field to talk about what we are doing, why, how to do it, and for book reviews, conference reviews and photo essays. Rather than streamlining the work that we do, it is a space for debate and also for coordination and awareness among researchers who are extremely diverse in academic affiliation, regional focus and form of engagement with climate change and weather.

Climate Change Hub

Anthropology is the bio-cultural study of humankind across all space and time. Anthropology is important to debates on Climate Change because it covers the human aspect (the root of the problem, after all) and can bridge between the social and natural sciences. In 2016 the Royal Anthropological Institute held a major conference at the British Museum on Anthropology, the Weather and Climate Change.  The RAI ‘s Climate Change hub is a resource for anthropologists looking to maximise the impact of their work.