Cultural Ecology
ESP/ANT 133
ESP: 63380-63381; 63383-63385
ANT: 51790-51791; 41793-51795
MWF 12:10-1
Wellman 126
instructor: Benjamin
Orlove, Environmental Science & Policy
3134A
Wickson Wed 2-4
TAs: Vanessa DeKoninck,
Anthropology
20
Young Monday 10:30-12
Maggie Franzen, Ecology
307 Young Tuesday 3-4
course format:
This course has two goals. Firstly, it examines the interaction
between diverse human cultures and societies and the environments of people
that practice them. It stresses the ways in which concepts developed for
small-scale, non-western, pre-industrial societies are applicable to the modern
world, characterized by transnationalism and globalization. Secondly, it traces
the development of theories that explain this interaction and discusses current
research. Through the close examination of alternative theories, this course
provides students with general tools in critical thinking and analytical
writing.
This
course meets three different General Education requirements: Social Science
Topical Breadth, Social-Cultural Diversity and Writing
Experience. Its approach to different theories gives students a deeper
understanding to research methods and explanation in social sciences. Its
presentation of human cultures around the globe introduces students to a range
of diverse cultures. The activities in sections and the papers provide the
students with tools to strengthen their writing skills.
This
course could appeal to students outside anthropology and environmental studies
because it examines a broad range of topics, because it teaches basic skills in
critical thinking through the application of the concept of paradigm, and
because it provides an opportunity to develop writing skills. It is
particularly well-suited to students in International Relations, because of the
breadth of coverage of different cultures. Students from Nature and Culture and
from Science and Technology Studies often take this course as well, for its
exploration of fundamental issues in the study of human cultures and
environments. The course has no
prerequisites.
course
requirements:
grading:
The grading will be based
as follows: midterm 20%, final 25%, discussion questions 15%, paper 35%, section
participation 5%. Students will also have the option of submitting an
extra-credit paper, worth 10% of the grade, by Friday 11 May.
papers:
The paper,
4-6 double-spaced typewritten pages in length, compares two of the paradigms discussed
in class and in the readings. (A handout will be provided to explain these
papers in greater detail.) Students are required to bring a preliminary draft
of the paper to section in week 8. In section, students will circulate these
drafts and comment on them. One week later, on Wednesday 30 May, the second and
final draft is due. This second draft will be graded, but the first will not.
discussion questions:
Students will also be
required to bring to section discussion questions based on book chapters and
articles. These will be used to organize discussion in section. They will be
due in section on weeks 2, 3, 5, 6 and 7. These summaries will not receive
letter grades, but will only be graded full pass/weak pass/not pass.
late papers and discussion
questions:
Late
papers and discussion questions will not be accepted. Exceptions will be made
only for medical emergencies of the student or an immediate family member, and
only if the emergency is verified by a note from a doctor or other medical
professional.
lecture outline and reading list:
texts:
1.
course reader (Navin's, 231 Third St., Davis. 758-2311)
2. Harris,
Marvin. 1977. Cannibals
and Kings: The Origins of Culture. New York: Random
House.
3. Picchi,
Debra. 2000. The Bakairí Indians of Brazil: Politics, Ecology and Change. Prospect
Heights, IL: Waveland Press.
4.
Schlosser, Eric. 2001. Fast Food Nation:
The Dark Side of the All-American Meal.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Week 0. Introduction.
30
March Lecture 1 Introduction
Week 1. Introduction. Basic
Elements.
Picchi,
The Bakairí Indians, chapters 1-4 and pp. 185-194
Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, Introduction and chapters 1-3
"Chimps
in the wild show stirrings of culture", Gretchen Vogel. 1999. Science
284:2070-2073.
"Are
our primate cousins 'conscious'?", Elizabeth Pennisi. 1999. Science 284:2073-2076.
“Fruit
smearing by captive chimpanzees: a newly observed food-processing
behavior.” Samuel Fernández-Carriba and Ángela Loeches. 2001. Current
Anthropology 42(1): 143-147.
“Intergroup
differences in a social custom of wild chimpanzees: the grooming hand-clasp of
the Mahale Mountains.” W. C. Mc Grew, L. F. Marchant,
S. E. Scott, and C. E. G. Tutin. 2001. Current
Anthropology 42(1):148-153
02 April Lecture 2 Basic
Element I Environment
04 April Lecture 3 Basic
Element II Society
06 April Lecture 4 Basic
Element III Culture
Week 2. Basic Elements. The
Core Concept: Paradigm
Picchi, The Bakairí Indians, chapters 5-8 and pp. 194-202
Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, chapters 4-6
09 April Lecture 5 The
Central Concept: Paradigm.
11 April Lecture 6 The
Kayapó (film)
13 April Lecture 7
Classificatory Cultural Ecology I. energy and evolution
Week 3. Paradigm 1:
Classificatory Cultural Ecology.
Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, chapters 7-10
Orienting Essay, Paradigm 1: “Introduction: The
Anthropological Theories of Julian H. Steward”, Robert F. Murphy. In Evolution
and Ecology: Essays on Social Transformation, by Julian H. Steward. Edited by Jane C. Steward and
Robert F. Murphy. 1977. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 1-39.
"Energy
and the evolution of culture", in The science of culture: a study of
man and civilization, Leslie White. 1949. New York: Farrar, Strauss and
Giroux. 363-393
"The
patrilineal band", in Theory of Culture Change , Julian Steward.
1955. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 122-142.
"Tappers
and trappers: parallel process in acculturation". Robert F. Murphy &
Julian H. Steward. 1956. Economic Development and Cultural Change 4:335-353.
16
April Lecture 8 Classificatory Cultural Ecology II. general concepts
18 April Lecture 9
Classificatory Cultural Ecology III. Classificatory Cultural Ecology in the
Amazon
20 April Lecture 10 Classificatory
Cultural Ecology IV. Classificatory Cultural Ecology in the contemporary U.S.
Week 4. Paradigm 1:
Classificatory Cultural Ecology.
23 April Lecture 11
Classificatory Cultural Ecology V. a discussion of American culture
25 April MIDTERM: bring a blue book and a scantron form
27 April Lecture 12 Basic
Elements IV. Adaptation
Week 5. Paradigm 2:
Cultural Materialism.
Orienting
Essay, Paradigm 2: “Theoretical principles of cultural materialism”, Marvin Harris.
1979. In Marvin Harris, Cultural Materialism: The Struggle for a Science of
Culture. New York: Random House. 46-76.
Harris, Cannibals
and Kings, introduction and chapters 1, 3, 5 and 7.
30
April Lecture 13 Cultural Materialism I . A unitary paradigm
02 May Lecture 14 Cultural
Materialism II. Cultural Materialism in the Amazon
04 May Lecture 15 Campus
Writing Center workshop
Week 6. Paradigm 2:
Cultural Materialism. Paradigm 3: Human Behavioral Ecology.
Harris, Cannibals and Kings, chapters 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and
14
"Patterns
of diet and forces of production: an economic and ecological history of the
ascendancy of beef in the United States diet". Eric Ross. 1980. In
Eric Ross, ed., Beyond the myths of culture: essays in cultural materialism.
New York: Academic Press. 181-225
07
May Lecture 16 Cultural Materialism III. Human diet (food prohibitions)
09 May Lecture 17 Cultural
Materialism IV. Human diet (the contemporary U.S.)
11 May Lecture 18 Human
Behavioral Ecology I. Optimal foraging strategy
EXTRA CREDIT PAPER DUE
Week 7. Paradigm 3: Human
Behavioral Ecology.
Orienting
Essay, Paradigm 3: “Analyzing adaptive strategies: Human behavioral ecology at
twenty-five”. Bruce Winterhalder. 2000. Evolutionary Anthropology 9:
51-72.
"Optimal
diet breadth theory as a model to explain variability in Amazonian
hunting". Raymond Hames and William Vickers. 1982. American Ethnologist
9(2):358-378.
"Testing
the 'ecologically noble savage' hypothesis: interspecific prey choice by Piro
hunters of Amazonian Peru". Michael S. Alvard. 1993. Human Ecology
21(4):355-387.
"Local
control of aquatic resources: community and ecology in Lake Titicaca,
Peru". Dominique Levieil and Benjamin Orlove. 1990. American
Anthropologist 92:362-382.
"The
lobster fiefs revisited: economic and ecological effects of territoriality in
Maine lobster fishing." James Acheson. 1987. in Bonnie McCay and
James Acheson, eds. The question of the commons: the culture and ecology of
communal resources . Tucson: University of Arizona Press. 37-65.
14
May Lecture 19 Human Behavioral Ecology II. Human Behavioral Ecology in the
Amazon
16 May Lecture 20 Human
Behavioral Ecology III. Human Behavioral Ecology in the Andes
18 May Lecture 21 Human
Behavioral Ecology IV. Human Behavioral Ecology in the contemporary U.S.
Week 8. Paradigm 4:
Political Ecology.
DRAFT OF PAPER DUE IN SECTION
Orienting
Essay, Paradigm 4: "Political ecology". James B. Greenberg and Thomas K.
Park. 1994. Journal of Political Ecology 1:1-12"
“Ecologic relationships
of ethnic groups in Swat, North Pakistan". Fredrik Barth. 1956. American
Anthropologist 58:1079-1089.
"Farmers’
knowledge and sustainable agroecosystem management: an operational definition
and an example from Chiapas, Mexico". Mauricio Bellon. 1995. Human
Organization 54(3)263-272.
"Landholding
fragmentation: are folk soil taxonomy and equity important? A case study from
Mexico". Mauricio Bellon. 1996. Human Ecology 24(3):373-393.
"The
1992 Indian mobilization in lowland Ecuador." Suzana Sawyer. 1997. Latin
American Perspectives 24(3):65-82.
"Ethnic
diversity and the pattern adoption of soil conservation in the strawberry hills
of Monterey, California". Daniel C. Mountjoy. 1996. Society and Natural
Resources 9:339-357.
21
May Lecture 22 Political Ecology I. An integrative perspective
23 May Lecture 23 Political
Ecology II. Political Ecology in the Amazon
25 May Lecture 24 Political
Ecology III. Peasant knowledge, crop varieties and agricultural change in
Mexico
Week 9. Paradigm 4
Political Ecology. Review and Synthesis.
28
May HOLIDAY
30 May Lecture 25 Political
Ecology IV. Political Ecology in the contemporary U.S.
FINAL DRAFT OF PAPER DUE
01 June Lecture 26. Spirit
of the Kuna Yala (film)
Week 10. Review and
Synthesis.
04
June Lecture 27 Review and synthesis I. Comparing paradigms in the Amazon
(discussion)
06 June Lecture 28 Review
and synthesis II. Comparing paradigms in the US [discussion]
Wednesday 13 June
10:30 AM-12:30
PM/Wellman 126
final examination
bring a blue book and a scantron form