ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines a number of studies that exemplify the way anthropologists have engaged with various aspects of climate change. It focuses on the ways that cultural anthropologists address present-day issues related to global climate change, issues that are confronting both local communities and global scientific and policy communities with unparalleled urgency and severity. The book discusses the distinctiveness of ethno-graphic fieldwork as a way to gain insights into the relationship between climate and culture. It argues that, since climate change is about global fluctuations and interconnections, cultural anthropologists are challenged to broaden their field horizons and venture out on uncharted epistemological terrain. Research on indigenous environmental knowledge has a long-standing tradition in anthropology and ranges from ethnoscience to the more recent political ecology and environmental movements. In other words, engaged ethnography must be embraced as a vital way of 'being there'.
