Tulane University

Contact Info
wbalee@tulane.edu

Degrees

• B.A., University of Florida, Anthropology, 1975
• M.A., Columbia University, Anthropology, 1979
• M.Phil., Columbia University, 1980
• Ph.D., Columbia University, 1984

Academic Experience

• Professor, Tulane University, 1998-
• Associate Professor, Tulane University, 1991-1998
• Visiting Associate Professor, University of Florida, 1990
• Researcher, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem, Brazil, 1988-1991
• Research Fellow, New York Botanical Garden, 1984-1988

Research & Teaching Specializations: Brazil; Anthropology; Ethnoecology; Ethnobotany

Related Experience

• Director, Environmental Studies Program, Tulane University, 2007-2010
• Editorial Advisory Board, Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America, 2003-2008
• Academic Consultant and Translator, Our Peoples Exhibit, National Museum of the American Indian, sponsored by the Cultural Resource Center of the Smithsonian Institution, 2000-2004
• Chair, Department of Anthropology, Tulane University, 1998- 2001
• Chair, Ecology Department, Museu Paraense Emilio Goeldi, Belem, Brazil, 1988-1991

Distinctions

• World Wildlife Fund Grants, 1991-1993, 2003
• Wenner-Gren Foundation Grant, “Agroforestry Complex in Southwest Amazonia,” 1993-1994
• Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation for Research and Training Grant on Comparative Ethnoecology in Eastern Amazonia, 1990-1992
• Ford Foundation Grant for Research on Transfer of Indigenous Technology, 1989-1990
• Research Fellow, Institute of Economic Botany, New York Botanical Gardens, 1984-1988

Languages: Portuguese; Spanish; Ka’apor-Urubu (Tupi Guarani), French

Selected Publications

• 2013. Cultural Forests of the Amazon: A Historical Ecology of People and their Landscapes. Birmingham: University of Alabama Press.
• 2009. “The meaning of “tree” in two different Tupi-Guarani languages from two different Neotropical forests.” Amazônica, Revista de Antropologia. 1 (1): 96-135.
• 2006. Time and Complexity in Historical Ecology: Studies in the Neotropical Lowlands. Editor, with C. L. Erickson. New York: Columbia University Press.
• 2006. “The research program of historical ecology.” Annual Review of Anthropology. 35: 75-98.
• 2003. “Historical-ecological influences on the word for cacao in Ka’apor.” Anthropological Linguistics. 45 (3): 259-280.
• 1994. Footprints of the Forest: Ka’apor Ethnobotany- The Historical Ecology of Plant Utilization by an Amazonian People. New York: Columbia University Press.

Recently-Taught Latin American-Related Courses:

• ANTH-3060-01: South American Indians
• ANTH-3710-01: Historical Ecology of Amazonia

Number of Dissertations or Theses Supervised in the Past 5 Years: 8