Reclaiming ontology: implications for human-nature relations and ethnographic inquiry

The resurgence of ontological inquiries in contemporary scholarship has intensified interest in the revindication of ontology, a long-standing priority for critical realists. In light of this renewed scholarly orientation, this paper seeks to advance a metatheoretical dialogue between critical realism and a strand of ontological anthropology referred to as the ‘Cambridge turn’. It begins by investigating the different meanings ascribed to ontology in each tradition, before proceeding to an analysis of their implications for human–nature relations and ethnographic inquiry. Proponents of the Cambridge turn deconstruct the nature-culture binary and foreground conceptualization as a methodological approach. By contrast, critical realists draw on explanatory critique and maintain distinctions between natural and social phenomena. In conclusion, the paper contends that the critical realist revindication of ontology is pivotal in addressing the intertwined ecological and methodological challenges; however, anthropological explorations of ontology have the potential to advance the continuing metacritique of critical realism.