Environmental anthropology

Environmental Anthropology
ANTH 2127, section 001
TTh 12:30-1:45, Fretwell 419
Fall 2012
Instructor: Dr. Nicole Peterson

Online connections: Moodle site, Course electronic reserves, Facebook fan page for course (Environmental Anthropology)

Moodle tutorial: http://teaching.uncc.edu/student-learning/vids/video-moodle-course-homepage

UNCC electronic course reserves: http://library.uncc.edu/reserves

You are responsible for assignments and policies included in this syllabus. Please read it carefully and ask for any needed clarification early in the semester.
The instructor may modify the standards and requirements in this syllabus at any. Notice of such changes will be by announcement in class and posted on the Moodle site.

About the course:

The field of environmental anthropology takes up the study of human-environment relations in their broad complexity. Environmental anthropology focuses on how humans have shaped the environment and how the environment has shaped us. It also helps us understand and solve problems associated with the environmental realities facing our contemporary, global society. It raises challenging questions:

  • Do we shape the environment or does it shape us (or a bit of both)? And how does that happen? How do relationships with the natural world vary from place to place? Why is it important to study those relationships over time?
  • What kinds of knowledge do people have about their environments and how do they use it?
  • How do different people interact with plants and animals?
  • What role does religion play in our understanding of the environment?
  • What do race, class, and gender have to do with the environment?
  • How are people and their relationships to the environment represented in international arenas, who holds the power to make those representations and what are the consequences?

In this course, we will explore these questions among others with an emphasis on understanding globalization and its influence on the relations between human communities and their environments. We will focus on theories and methods engaged in the study and practice of environmental anthropology, examining approaches such as cultural ecology, ethnoecology, political ecology, and environmental justice. These approaches provide insight into our relationships and interactions with the worlds around us and help us understand the pressing environmental questions and issues of our time. Lectures, readings, discussions, and films will draw on examples of human-environment relations in different parts of the world.

Course expectations and assessment

Participation (50 points): This is a discussion-focused class. You are expected to add to the discussion with questions and comments. Good participation can increase your final grade (e.g. B+ to A-). Students who are uncomfortable with in-class discussion can increase your participation grade by bringing questions and comments to office hours or online fora (facebook, twitter)

Reading responses (100 points): There will be 10 responses over the course of the semester for a total of 100 points (10 points each). These must be completed by midnight the day before class, and will cover the readings due in class the next week. These will be on Moodle.

Case study (reading responses, exams and final presentation): This semester, students will work on a case study-based research project either alone or in groups.

  • You will choose a topic for your project early – an environmental issue of importance to North Carolina or North Carolinians. You will not be able to change your topic.
  • Once every week or two you will read an academic or journalistic article about your topic in relation to what we’re talking about in class. You’ll need to find it and read it before class. You will post a citation to the article as well as a brief description of how it ties into the course material, as part of your reading response for that week. (more information on handout)
  • Several exam questions on midterms will require students to write about their specific topic (each student will write their own answer without help from the group).
  • 50 points: Each group/person will also present on their case study during the final exam period. The form of this presentation can vary (poster, powerpoint, video, webpage, article), but will be presented to the class during the final exam period. The presentation will include the following:
    • General introduction to the case (where, what is the issue)
    • Connection to at least 3 topics discussed in the class
    • Potential solutions/resolutions

Exams: Students will have three take-home exams during this course, which will count for the majority of their grade. Late exams will not be accepted without a doctor’s note.

  • · Each will be worth 100 points and will cover the material since the last exam only. Midterms must be posted to Moodle by noon of the date they are due.

Your grade will be based on your ability to show you understand the course material, and the points assigned will reflect your ability to do this, with the following assigned letter grades:

100-90% 89-80% 79-70% 69-60% Below 60%
A B C D F

Final grade: 500 points possible: Letter grades will be assigned as follows:

450-500 pts 400-449 pts 350-399 pts 300-349 pts Below 300 pts
A B C D F

Course policies and responsibilities

  1. All course emails will be sent to your UNCC.edu account. Please check it regularly, at least once a week.
  2. Class attendance is to your advantage. If you have to miss class, please get the notes from another student and check the Moodle page for class handouts, announcements, and other information. Students are expected to contact the instructor in cases of extended illness or other events requiring multiple absences.
  3. Readings are to be completed by the date listed in the course syllabus and brought to class.
  4. You are responsible for information contained in all lectures, reading assignments, and videos. If you don’t understand concepts or topics presented in lectures or readings, ask questions either in class or after.
  5. Exams are given at specific times, and can only be rescheduled for official university off-campus activities, religious holidays, serious illness, or a death in the family. Contact me as soon as possible in these cases. Students who miss exams without prior consent of the professor or a doctor’s note will not be allowed to make them up.
  6. Disrespectful and disruptive behavior in class will not be tolerated.
    1. Turn off cell phones before class.
    2. Computer use is allowed for note-taking only.
    3. Arrive on time; late arrivals will be counted as an absence.
    4. Participation in class discussions and activities is highly encouraged.
      1. Raise your hand and ask questions at any time
      2. Please try to stay on topic with your contributions.
      3. You will read the UNCC Code of Academic Integrity (www.legal.uncc.edu/policies/ps-105.html) and the UNCC Code of Student Responsibility (http://www.legal.uncc.edu/policies/ps-104.html). Violations of these codes (e.g. cheating and other forms of academic dishonesty) will result in automatic failure of the course. Cheating includes getting any assistance during exams from classmates.
      4. Accommodation to Students with Disabilities: I am happy to accommodate students with disabilities. If you know or think you have a disability, please visit the Office of Disability Services (230 Fretwell Building/Phone: (704) 687-4355) early in the semester so that we have the necessary paperwork on file for you.
      5. Bad weather: The University’s Inclement Weather Line is 704-687-2877. If the weather is threatening, you can call that number and get a recording that will tell you if the university is open.

Required texts for course:

All readings on the syllabus are required unless indicated. You are responsible for completing the readings before the class date for which they are assigned.

Books(available at the campus bookstore):

  • Schroeder, Richard A. 1999. Shady Practices: Agroforestry and Gender Politics in The Gambia. UC Press. (also available as an e-book through the library)
  • ·      West, Paige. 2006. Conservation is Our Government Now: the politics of ecology in Papua New Guinea. Duke U Press.

Reader is available through the library electronic course reserves on Moodle. You will be responsible for getting these readings. This has saved you the cost of a reader, around $75. Library.uncc.edu/caos/coursereserve

Paper and the environment: Printing uses up valuable resources, and as an environmentalist, I encourage you to print as little as possible. I ask you to email me assignments and exams; you will receive my comments by email as well. As for readings, I hope you will either:

  1. Read them in digital form,
  2. Print on both sides of the paper, or use the back of waste paper, and/or
  3. Print two pages per sheet (if possible)

Schedule: 

Date   Topic and reading
8/21 Tu Course introduction
8/23 Th Silver, Timothy. Ch 2 “Footprints” in Mount Mitchell and the Black Mountains: An Environmental History of the Highest Peaks in Eastern America. Pp 37-46.
    Local knowledge
8/28 Tu Netting, Robert. 1993 Smallholders, householders: farm Families and the Ecology of Intensive Sustainable Agriculture. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press. Prologue, pp. 1-27
8/30 Th Gomez-Pompa, Arturo, and Kaus, Andrea. 1992 Taming the Wilderness Myth. BioScience, 42(4): 271-279.
9/4 Tu Case study reading #1, Course topic: “local knowledge”
9/6 Th Haenn, Nora. 1999 The Power of Environmental Knowledge: Ethnoecology and Environmental Conflicts in Mexican Conservation. Human Ecology: An Interdisciplinary Journal 27(3): 477-491.
9/11 Tu Paolisso, Michael. 2002 Blue Crabs and Controversy on the Chesapeake Bay: A Cultural Model for Understanding Watermen’s Reasoning about Blue Crab Management. Human Organization 61(3): 226-239.
9/13 Th Case study reading #2, course topic “education” or “different perspectives”
9/18 Tu Watch documentary before class http://vimeo.com/29178504 and http://vimeo.com/29178801
9/20 Th Robbins, Joel. 1995 Dispossessing the Spirits: Christian Transformations of Desire and Ecology among the Urapmin of Papua New Guinea. Ethnology 34 (3): 211-224.
    MIDTERM 1 due Sunday, 9/23 at noon on Moodle
9/25 Tu 1. Hardin, G. 1968 The Tragedy of the Commons. Science 162: 1243-8.

2. Berkes, F., D. Feeny, B. J. McCay, and J. M. Acheson. 1989. The Benefits of the Commons. Nature 340:91-93.
9/27 Th Acheson, James. 1988 The Lobster Gangs of Maine. Durham, N.H.: University Press of New England. Chapter 4 (Territories). Pp 71-83.
10/2 Tu Case study reading #3, course topic “commons” or “management”
    Local interactions
10/4 Th Schroeder Preface and Ch 1
10/9 Tu FALL BREAK – no classes
10/11 Th Schroeder Ch 2-3
10/16 Tu Schroeder Ch 4-5
10/18 Th Schroeder Ch 6-7
10/23 Tu Case study reading #4, course topic “gender”
10/25 Th Case study reading #5, course topic “local politics” or “policy changes”
    Midterm 2 due Sunday, 10/28 at noon on Moodle
10/30 Tu Ch 2 from Auyeru and Swistun, 2009. Flammable: Environmental Suffering in an Argentine Shantytown. Oxford U Press
11/1 Th Checker, Melissa. 2002 ‘It’s in the Air’: Redefining the Environment as a New Metaphor for Old Social Justice Struggles. Human Organization 61(1): 94-105.
11/6 Tu Li, Tania. 2000 Articulating indigenous identity in Indonesia: Resource politics and the tribal slot. Comparative Studies in Society and History. 42(1): 149-179.
11/8 Th Case study reading #6, “environmental justice” or “inequality”
    National and global interconnections
11/13 Tu Durham, W. H. 1995 Political Ecology and Environmental Destruction in Latin America. Chapter 7. In The Social Causes of Environmental Destruction in Latin America. M. Painter and W. H. Durham (Editors). Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. Pp 249-264.
11/15 Th West 1-2; in-class film
11/20 Tu No class – read West 3-4, work on projects
11/22 Th Thanksgiving break
11/27 Tu West 5-6
11/29 Th West 7; Case study reading #7, course topic “non-local influences” or “international politics” or “international markets”
    MIDTERM 3 due Sunday, 12/2 at noon on Moodle
12/4 Tu Peggy Barlett.  2011.  Campus Sustainable Food Projects: Critique and Engagement.  American Anthropologist 13:101-115.
12/13 Th 11-1:30pm Final exam period: case study poster presentations