William S. Abruzzi, Ph.D.

CP-LUHNA Author: The social and ecological consequences of early cattle ranching in the Little Colorado River Basin, Arizona and Ecology and Mormon colonization in the Little Colorado River Basin, Arizona.

Muhlenberg College
2400 Chew St.
Allentown, PA 18104-5586

Current Academic Position:

Associate Professor and Head Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work

 

Education:

Widener University, B.S. Economics (1966)

Temple University, M.A. Anthropology (1970)

State University of New York at Binghamton, Ph.D. Anthropology (1981)

(1981) --Outstanding Dissertation in the Social Sciences

 

Teaching:

I have been teaching at the college or university level for nearly 30 years, and I am still as excited to enter the classroom and participate in a dialogue with my students as I was when I first started teaching. I delight in the discovery process, and I enjoy being a part of that process for others. I take great pleasure in exposing students to new ideas and new ways of thinking about subjects, and I welcome the opportunity to prod and challenge students to think more rigorously and more critically about social issues. I enjoy teaching anthropology because the study of anthropology encompasses so many aspects of our species' existence, including our relation to other primates, our evolution from primate ancestors, the origin of agriculture, the evolution of ancient civilizations and the incredible diversity of peoples and societies which exist throughout the world today. The diverse subject matter of anthropology, thus, provides a unique opportunity to expand my students' horizons, to challenge parochial and ethnocentric theories about human behavior, and to induce students to think critically about a whole variety of social issues. I take is an explicitly scientific approach, showing students that even the most exotic human behavior can be made more understandable when examine rationally and with a concern for accurate data collection.

 

I have recently come to Muhlenberg College because it is a small liberal arts college that is committed to fostering each student's personal as well as intellectual development. The smaller classes, quality students, and residential nature of the campus allow me to pursue my interactive teaching style and to have extensive contact with students outside the classroom.

 

I am also an avid backpacker. I have done numerous overnight backpacking trips into the Grand Canyon and into several wilderness areas in the American Southwest. I enjoy taking students backpacking and have, for this reason, been involved in the founding of the Outdoor Adventure Club.. I also teach a summer course on the American Southwest which involves two weeks of camping and backpacking in Arizona and New Mexico. Research My research interests are in human ecology, arid lands studies, ethnic relations, social science theory and methodology, and the anthropology of religion. Most of my research has been in the American Southwest, but I have also done research in Africa and Sardinia My research focuses largely on the application of general ecological and evolutionary theory to explain the evolution of human societies.

 

I have examined the effect of population pressure on the Mbuti Pygmies of the Ituri Forest in the Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire). I have also published several articles and a book in which I apply ecological theory to explain historical developments associated with Mormon colonization of the Little Colorado River Basin in Arizona. I have also examineed the social and ecological consequences of overgrazing and the overexploitation of groundwater resources in this same river during the past 100 years. My most recent research focuses on historical ethnic relations in New Mexico and on Native American ecology.

 

Selected Publications:

Population Pressure and Subsistence Strategies among the Mbuti Pygmies. Human Ecology 7:183-189. (1979)

 

Flux Among the Mbuti Pygmies of the Ituri Forest: An Ecological Interpretation. In Eric B. Ross, ed., Beyond the Myths of Culture: Explorations in Cultural Materialism. New York: Academic Press, pp. 3-31. (1980)

 

Ecological Theory and Ethnic Differentiation among Human Populations. Current Anthropology 23:13-31. (1982)

 

Water and Community Development in the Little Colorado River Basin, Human Ecology 12(2):241-269. (1985)

 

Ecological Stability and Community Diversity during Mormon Colonization of the Little Colorado River Basin. Human Ecology 15:317-338. (1987)

 

Ecology, Resource Redistribution and Mormon Settlement in Northeastern Arizona. American Anthropologist 91:642-655. (1989)

 

DAM THAT RIVER! Ecology and Mormon Settlement in the Little Colorado River Basin. University Press of America. Lanham, MD. (1993)

 

Ecological Concepts in Anthropological Human Ecology: Illustrations from Mormon Settlement in Northeastern Arizona. in Scott Wright, Thomas Deitz, Richard Borden, Gerald Young and Gregory Guagnano, eds., Human Ecology: Crossing Boundaries. Society for Human Ecology: College Park, MD, pp. 255-271. (1993)

 

The Social and Ecological Consequences of Early Cattle Ranching in Northeastern Arizona. Human Ecology 23:75-98 (1995)

 

Ecological Theory and the Evolution of Complex Human Communities. Advances in Human Ecology 5:111-156. (1996)

 

Chief Seattle's 1854 Speech: A Critical Consideration. Forum 13:52-60. (1997)

 

The Real Chief Seattle Was Not a Spiritual Ecologist. The Skeptical Inquirer (1999) (in press)

 

Previous College Teaching Positions:

Fort Hays Kansas State College, Hays, Kansas Instructor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology

 

State University of New York at Binghamton Teaching Assistant, School of General Studies

 

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria Lecturer, Department of Sociology

 

Davis and Elkins College, Elkins, West Virginia Instructor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology

 

Penn State University, Ogontz Campus, Abington, Pennsylvania Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology

 

New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology