Steven A. Weber and the Birth of the Society of Ethnobiology

Summary

In June 1978, two young graduate students met while working for the U.S. Forest Service in Flagstaff, Arizona. At the time, I was organizing the 2nd Ethnobiology Conference to be held at the Museum of Northern Arizona in honor of two founding fathers of ethnobiology, Alfred Whiting and Lyndon L. Hargrave. Steve and I soon became friends and colleagues, spending many evenings over beers, and our conversations often centered on our mutual interests in interdisciplinary studies for which ethnobiology was a core component. We came up with the idea to initiate a Journal of Ethnobiology with papers from the 2nd conference as the first issue. Further, we believed this journal should be the basis for a new non-profit society, the Society of Ethnobiology, and both were launched in 1981. This early history of the Society is presented here with Steve Weber’s critical role. His foresight in developing this Society indicates how, early in his career, he was already having a huge influence on the field of ethnobiology. Now, over 35 years later, the Society and Journal remain strong and are a testament to Steve’s lifelong contributions and dedication to ethnobiology.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Seeds of the Past, Seeds of the Future: Papers in Honor of Steven A. Weber

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14707