Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography
Moodle Forum Post
Other Natures Environmental Encounters with Ancient Greek Ethnography
I found this excerpt fascinating. The concept of ethnography was foreign to me before I began reading but quickly, I realized how crucial this standard is for evaluating history. The first thing that came to mind when she began explaining the implications of analyzing Greek and roman history recorded hand in hand with imperialism and colonialism was De Bello Gallico which I translated in my Latin class in high school. Frequently, we would explore Ceasar’s musing of the Galls and their culture which was quite a stark contrast to his home, and he deemed barbaric. The crucial part of translating this and understanding was the context of the military reports as well as his own personal agenda.
Furthermore, I think Clara Bosak-Schroeder makes an important point in analyzing the discourse in which Greek and Roman historians record environmental thought and the tie they present with human culture and interaction. Especially for our class this is crucial in determining their views of the environment. Since records are accompanied by descriptions of culture or human practices, we are left with specific snapshots of what was actually occurring which offers more insight to their views than the later discourse surrounding nature. This common trend in Greek and Roman ethnography even reveals that in their thought process nature and culture worked hand in hand and had a symbiotic relationship of equal importance. I think this belief changed when the discourse changed, nature became something separate from us because we were no longer living in balance with it.