ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on ethnobotany, ethnoecology, and ethnomedicine relevant to the environmental anthropology. It briefly reviews some theoretical foundations of classification within ethnoscience with a focus on ethnobiology. The chapter describes some common methods used to operationalize these theoretical issues, highlights new and exciting methodological developments, and discusses potential future directions of research. Ethnobiologists generally agree about universal principles of classification like basic-level categorization and prototypicality, but do not agree about the structure of taxonomies. The chapter also describes how people use classification to reason about relationships between items, categories, and ecological processes. It proposes that category typicality is necessary for cultural transmission and is a foundation for the consensus within variation needed for cultural adaptation. The chapter also considers some methodological implications of this proposal within the general discussion of classification research methods. It concludes by discussing some broader implications of treating classification as a socio-cultural process.
