In Search of the Rain Forest

“This book provides valuable insight into the dynamics of competing social constructions of nature. . . . [A]n engaging, thought-provoking volume rich in ideas grounded in real-world cases, and may alter to some degree the way many of us see the rainforest ourselves.” - Derek Smith , Cultural Geographies

"At this stage, anyone concerned with forest management would do well to read this book-it is an excellent demonstration of the value of a consciously-managed process of interdisciplinary dialogue." - Elery Hamilton-Smith , Electronic Green Journal

"This interdisciplinary cultural critique of the rain forest demonstrates how powerful simplifying rhetoric can be, influencing policy makers to develop equally simplified prescriptions for conservation that ignore the complex social and natural histories of the landscape. By calling these simplifications into question, this volume challenges our conservation policies and argues for a different model of resource protection based on landscape wide accommodation of resident peoples and their livelihoods." - Amity A. Doolittle , American Anthropologist

“In Search of the Rain Forest dissects the multiple meanings and the iconography of tropical nature in a very interesting way. It moves ‘rain forest studies’ into the realm of cultural critique in a manner that serves important scholarly as well as consciousness-raising ends.” - Susanna B. Hecht, coauthor of The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers, and Defenders of the Amazon

“This is an immensely thought-provoking and entertaining book. It makes a compelling case for an approach to the rain forest that eschews environmental fundamentalism in favor of a rich and multilayered understanding of the social complexities of rain forest practice and representation.” - Raymond L. Bryant, author of The Political Ecology of Forestry in Burma, 1824–1994