Tim Ingold has emerged as perhaps the most interesting theoretician of Man-Environment relations. This essay traces the intellectual history of the study of environmental perceptions and Ingold's rejection of the notion that culture "informs" our perception of the environment. Through a critical review of this position the essay considers the strength - and weaknesses - of Ingold's theoretical programme, and analyzes the concept "ontology of dwelling" which signals Ingold's break with a language-centered epistemology and his links to Heidegger's phenomenology.

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