Clarence J. Glacken

The Great Loochoo: A Study of Okinawan Village Life explores the intricate relationships between culture, environment, and historical evolution in Okinawa. Rooted in themes spanning centuries of cultural anthropology, the study underscores the interplay of human agency and natural environments. Historically, classical thinkers like Herodotus and Strabo speculated on cultural differences as products of environment, customs, and chance. This inquiry into cultural variation gained momentum in the 18th and 19th centuries through philosophers and travelers such as Montesquieu and Humboldt, culminating in Darwin’s evolutionary perspectives. The 20th century saw increased specialization, moving away from grand generalizations to detailed examinations of culture traits, emphasizing ecological thinking and the dynamic modification of environments by human activity. This work situates Okinawan culture within this intellectual lineage, emphasizing the central role of the family system and inheritance in shaping land use and environmental adaptation. The dependence of Okinawan villages on plants for food, shelter, tools, and other daily needs reflects a deeply ingrained ecological connection. While examining three villages, the study highlights how historical and environmental changes have influenced cultural practices. It challenges the notion of a static "unchanging East," illustrating instead a culture continuously shaped by internal dynamics and external forces. By blending social and natural sciences, this study provides insights into the adaptive strategies of Okinawan villagers, shedding light on a culture that balances tradition and transformation within the broader context of Southeast Asian environmental history. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1955.

The Great Loochoo: A Study of Okinawan Village Life explores the intricate relationships between culture, environment, and historical evolution in Okinawa. Rooted in themes spanning centuries of cultural anthropology, the study underscores the interplay of human agency and natural environments. Historically, classical thinkers like Herodotus and Strabo speculated on cultural differences as products of environment, customs, and chance. This inquiry into cultural variation gained momentum in the 18th and 19th centuries through philosophers and travelers such as Montesquieu and Humboldt, culminating in Darwin’s evolutionary perspectives. The 20th century saw increased specialization, moving away from grand generalizations to detailed examinations of culture traits, emphasizing ecological thinking and the dynamic modification of environments by human activity. This work situates Okinawan culture within this intellectual lineage, emphasizing the central role of the family system and inheritance in shaping land use and environmental adaptation. The dependence of Okinawan villages on plants for food, shelter, tools, and other daily needs reflects a deeply ingrained ecological connection. While examining three villages, the study highlights how historical and environmental changes have influenced cultural practices. It challenges the notion of a static "unchanging East," illustrating instead a culture continuously shaped by internal dynamics and external forces. By blending social and natural sciences, this study provides insights into the adaptive strategies of Okinawan villagers, shedding light on a culture that balances tradition and transformation within the broader context of Southeast Asian environmental history. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1955.

In the history of Western thought, men have persistently asked three questions concerning the habitable earth and their relationships to it. Is the earth, which is obviously a fit environment for man and other organic life, a purposefully made creation? Have its climates, its relief, the configuration of its continents influenced the moral and social nature of individuals, and have they had an influence in molding the character and nature of human culture? In his long tenure of the earth, in what manner has man changed it from its hypothetical pristine condition? From the time of the Greeks to our own, answers to these questions have been and are being given so frequently and so continually that we may restate them in the form of general ideas: the idea of a designed earth; the idea of environmental influence; and the idea of man as a geographic agent. These ideas have come from the general thought and experience of men, but the first owes much to mythology, theology, and philosophy; the second, to pharmaceutical lore, medicine, and weather observation; the third, to the plans, activities, and skills of everyday life such as cultivation, carpentry, and weaving. The first two ideas were expressed frequently in antiquity, the third less so, although it was implicit in many discussions which recognized the obvious fact that men through their arts, sciences, and techniques had changed the physical environment about them. This magnum opus of Clarence Glacken explores all of these questions from Ancient Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century.