William Balée (born 1954) is a professor of anthropology and environmental studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana.
He was born in the Miami, Florida area and educated at the University of Florida, Gainesville, where he received a B.A. in Anthropology before moving on to Columbia University in New York City where he earned his Ph.D. in Anthropology.
After earning his Ph.D., Balée worked for the New York Botanical Garden, collecting plants for an ethnobotany project sponsored by a Noble Grant. Later he took up a job with the Museu Goeldi in Belém, Brazil.
His primary ethnographic work was with the Ka'apor indigenous culture of Maranhão, Brazil (Balée 1994). During his time in Brazil, however, he also carried out fieldwork with the Tembe, the Asurini of the Xingu River, the Arawete of the Ipishuna, which is also a tributary of the Xingu, and the Guaja.
However, he is most renowned as a proponent and foremost expert of historical ecology (Balée 1998).
Currently, he is undertaking ethnographic fieldwork studying the historical ecology and legal activities of the Sirionó people in eastern Bolivia.
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