FACULTY PROFILE FOR CENTER FOR
SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES AT UH
FACULTY NAME
Sponsel, Leslie E.
TITLE/DEPARTMENT
Director, Ecological Anthropology Program
Professor, Department of Anthropology
EDUCATION
Ph.D. (Anthropology) Cornell University, 1981; M.A. (Anthropology) Cornell University 1973; B.A. (Geology) Indiana University, 1965
RESEARCH/TEACHING SPECIALIZATIONS
Thailand, mainland Southeast Asia
Human ecology (cultural, historical, political, spiritual approaches)
Sacred places in nature
Biodiversity studies and conservation
Buddhism, Buddhism ecology and environmentalism
Anthropology aspects of violence, war, nonviolence, peace, human rights
RECENT PUBLICATIONS (only those on Buddhism, Thailand, and SE Asia from 2000-2005)
2000 (January/April), “Does Buddhism Have Any Future?: Some Thoughts on the Possibilities of Buddhist Responses to the 21st Century” (with Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel) Seeds of Peace 16(1):36-39.
2000, “Identities, Ecologies, Rights, and Futures: All Endangered,” in Endangered Peoples of Southeast and East Asia: Struggles to Survive and Thrive, Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc., pp. 1-22.
Editor, 2000, Endangered Peoples of Southeast and East Asia: Struggles to Survive and Thrive, Westport, CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
2001, “Why a Tree is More than a Tree: Reflections on the Spiritual Ecology of Sacred Trees in Thailand,” (with Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel), in Santi Pracha Dhamma, Sulak Sivaraksa, et al., eds., Bangkok, Thailand: Santi Pracha Dhamma Institute, pp. 364-373.
2002, “Monkey Business? The Conservation Implications of Macaque Ethnoprimatology in Southern Thailand,” (with Nukul Ruttanadakul and Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel), in Primates Face to Face: The Conservation Implications of Human-Nonhuman Primate Interconnections, Agustin Fuentes and Linda Wolfe, eds., New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, pp. 288-309.
2003, Tropical Deforestation: The Human Dimension (co-edited with Thomas N. Headland and Robert C. Bailey), Dehra Dun, India: Bishen Singh Mahedra Pal Singh (reprint of 1996 book published by Columbia University Press for distribution in South and Southeast Asia).
2003, “Buddhist Views of Nature and Environment” (with Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel) in Nature Across Cultures: Non-Western Views of Nature and the Environment in Non-Western Cultures, Helaine Selin, ed., Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 351-371.
2003, “Illuminating Darkness: The Monk-Cave-Bat-Ecosystem Complex in Thailand” (with Poranee Natadecha-Sponsel) in Socially Engaged Spirituality: Essays in Honor of Sulak Sivaraksa, David W. Chappell, ed., Bangkok, Thailand: Sathirakoses-Nagapradipa Foundation, pp. 255-269. (Reprinted in This Sacred Earth: Religion, Nature, Environment, RFOger S. Gottlieb, ed., 2004, New York, NY: Routledge, pp. 134-144).
2003, “Book Review: Nature in the Global South: Environmental Projects in South and Southeast Asia, Paul R. Greenough and Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, eds.,” Anthropological Quarterly 76(4):775-787.
2004, “Coconut Picking Macaques in Southern Thailand: Economic, Cultural and Ecological Aspects,” (with Poranee Natadecha-SPonsel and Nukul Ruttanadakul) in Wildlife in Asia: Cultural Perspectives, John Knight, ed., New York, NY: Routledge/Curzon, pp. 112-128.
2005, “Southeast Asia,” in The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Bron Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, New York, NY: Continuum Press II:1582-1585.
2005, “Sacred Trees,” in The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Bron Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, New York, NY: Continuum Press II:1661-1663.
2005, “Book Review: Culture and the Question of Rights: Forests, Coasts, and Seas in Southeast Asia, Charles Zerner, ed.” Society and Natural Resources 18(2):191-193.
FIELD RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Most summers in Thailand since 1986
AREA AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES COURSES TAUGHT
I do not teach any courses specifically focused on a given region, but all of my courses contain substantial content on Southeast Asia ranging from about 25% to 33%, especially these:
415 Ecological Anthropology
435 Human Adaptation to Forests
444 Spiritual Ecology
445 Sacred Places
482 Environmental Anthropology
620H Human Ecology
DISTINCTIONS
1998- Advisory Board, Forum on Religion and Ecology, Harvard University
http://environment.harvard.edu/religion
2000- Executive Board, Hawai`i Association of International Buddhists, Honolulu
2000-2005 One of the Associate Editors and Asia Task Force members for The Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, Bron Taylor, Editor-in-Chief, New York, NY: Continuum Press.
http://www.religionandnature.com
2003- Advisory Council, Committee for Human Rights, American Anthropological Association
2003- Member of the Steering Committee for The Reverend Yoshiaki Fujitani Interfaith Program to Promote Dialogue and the Search for Understanding, Peace, and Justice
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