ABSTRACT
In occasionally referring to the Swiss mountain village of Törbel as an “island in the sky” and describing the intricate economic and social means by which its inhabitants over the centuries struck a balance with their alpine environment (Netting 1981), I may well have been guilty of the ecosystematic fallacy. This common anthropological error involves an overemphasis on functional integration, stability, and regulatory mechanisms within the community and a relative neglect of disequilibrium, changes emanating from more inclusive political-economic systems, and instances of evolutionary maladaptation. The nature of long-term resident field research, our reverence for an holistic perspective, and the romantic mystique of the self-sufficient, autonomous, emotionally rewarding “little community” all perpetuate our proclivity to learn a lot about a very limited group.
