Please find below the proposal (not yet submitted) for an organized session at the 2018 International Society of Ethnobiology conference. Before submitting the proposal, we need to find at least 6 presenters. We are especially interested in participation from archaeologists, historical ecologists, paleoecologists, and others who can address the issue of anthropogenic use of fire in the past. If you are interested in joining us in Belem, Brazil from August 7-10, 2018 please email me by February 15.
"Burning in a Changing World: The Ethnobiology of Past, Present, and Future Fire Regimes" Organizers: Cissy Fowler and Carol Barradas Fire has been a fundamental process in the creation of Planet Earth for 4.6 million years and an essential process in the evolution of human beings for more than 1 million years. Interactions between fire, flora, and fauna (human and nonhuman) impact all Earthly processes. Changes in Earth's systems are inextricably linked to changes in fire regimes. The purpose of this session is to discuss the roles of fire in shaping past and present ecosystems, and to consider how fire is being used or could be used to construct future desired or achievable conditions. What ecological and human processes does fire promote and deter? What are the positive, negative, and neutral effects of fire in ecological and human systems? In what ways and in what ecotypes can burning be a mechanism for helping flora and fauna adapt to future change? The presentations in this session provide rich descriptions of the webs of relationships among living and nonliving entities as well as vivid accounts of flows and processes. We focus on the connections between communities, ecosystems, and fire regimes. Presenters describe past and current fire regimes, discuss how fire regimes have changed through time, and hypothesize about future fire regimes. Presenters report on the causes and effects of fire in specific settings, and discuss the ways that fire shapes ecosystems. What are the consequences of using fire or not using fire for ecological change? This session assembles researchers to describe the ecosystems that have been constructed by the human use of fire in the past, present, and future. In what ways are Indigenous, traditional, rural, and other types of burners using fire to achieve their goals? In what ways is burning a manifestation of the ecological relationships? Participants in this session use the ethnobiology of burning as the basis for discussing burning as a method for achieving future goals. Throughout human history, burning has been one variously effective tool whether fire-wielders' aims are enhancing resilience, increasing biodiversity, restoring ecosystems, fire regime restoration, conserving assets, harvesting, favoring specific species, enhancing habitat, hunting, farming foods, commodity production, or other goals. In a world where change is always ongoing and often irrevocable, fire is one tool that we can continue using to create desirable future conditions. Cynthia Twyford Fowler Chair, Department of Sociology and Anthropology<http://www.wofford.edu/sociology/> Affiliate, Medical Humanities Program<http://www.wofford.edu/medicalHumanities/> and Asian Studies Program<http://www.wofford.edu/asianstudies/> President, Society of Ethnobiology<https://ethnobiology.org/> Co-Editor, Global Change/Global Health Monograph Series<http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/news/GlobalChangeGlobalHealth.php> Founding Editorial Board Member, Ethnobiology Letters<http://ojs.ethnobiology.org/index.php/ebl/> Wofford College Tel: 864-597-4698 Email: [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> Webpage: http://sites.wofford.edu/fowlerct/
