William Balée

William Balée is a Professor of Anthropology at Tulane University, USA, specializing in human-environment interactions in tropical ecosystems. In December 2012, he delivered a guest lecture series at the Collège de France under Philippe Descola's Chair of Anthropology of Nature at the Site Marcelin Berthelot in Paris.

His research critically examines anthropogenic landscape formation through indigenous practices, with core interests in:

• Historical Ecology frameworks for understanding long-term human ecological impacts
• Indigenous classification systems and nomenclature for Amazonian flora
• Anthropogenic forest development via traditional agroforestry and soil management
• Landscape domestication processes including succession and transformation dynamics
• Integration of ethnographic, archaeological, and ecological methodologies

Lecture topics revealed his focus on how Amazonian societies actively shape biodiversity through arboriculture and land management, challenging notions of 'pristine' wilderness. His work positions indigenous knowledge as central to understanding ecological resilience and historical landscape trajectories in the Neotropics.

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