ANTH 307/Ecological Anthropology
(001641)
MnTC/LASC
Category 10
Minnesota State University Moorhead
Fall 2014
KH 215, T, H 3:00-4:15PM
Instructor: Dr. Bruce Roberts
Office:
KH213; Telephone: 477-2043
Office hours:
Mon 1-2:30PM, Tue 9AM-12:30PM, Wed 11AM-12:30PM, Thu 9AM-12:30PM
Also by appointment
E mail:
robertsb@mnstate.edu
Class web site:
http://web.mnstate.edu/robertsb/307
All materials also on D2L
Official course description:
an anthropological
examination of cultural adaptation to the environment. Detailed
analysis of the major human subsistence strategies in diverse ecological
settings worldwide.
This
course falls under
MnTC/LASC
Category 10: People and the Environment.
The goals of this category include:
To
develop students understanding of the concept of sustainability and the
challenges we face in responding to environmental variables and resolving
environmental problems.
To
examine how societies and the natural environment are intimately related.
To
develop a thorough understanding of ecosystems and the ways in which different
groups interact with their environments on the way to becoming an
environmentally literate individual.
Ecological anthropology studies human
interaction with and adaptation to the environment. While we as humans
adjust to our surroundings in both
biological and cultural ways, in this course our
emphasis will be on cultural adaptations,
i.e., those traits that are learned and
shared as members of societies.
This
course will consist of three major
segments:
Textbooks
Introduction to Cultural Ecology.
Mark Q. Sutton and E.N. Anderson. 2010. Second Edition. Altamira Press.
ISBN 978-0-7591-1247-6
The Bakairi Indians of
Brazil: Politics, Ecology, and Change.
Debra Picchi.
2006. Second Edition.
Waveland Press. ISBN 13:
978-1-57766-430-7
Dancing
Skeletons: Life and Death in West Africa.
Katherine A. Dettwyler. 2014. 20th Anniversary Edition. ISBN 13:
978-1-4786-0758-8
Any and all supplementary
on-line readings will be hyper-linked to the on-line copy of the syllabus.
Student Evaluation/Assessment
Attendance and
participation: I
don't have an attendance policy so whether or not you come to class is your
decision. Nonetheless, after teaching this course for over 20 years I can tell
you that there is a distinct and
consistent correlation between class attendance and grades.
In
the end it's your choice.
Readings:
Think of the book by Sutton
and Anderson as the text. The books by
Picchi and Dettwyler are cases studies - what anthropologists like to call
ethnographies.
They are written specifically for use in
undergraduate classes and seek to convey a picture of a particular group of
people and their culture. Picchi's book on the Bakairi will be covered on the
midterm exam and Dettwyler's on Mali (predominantly the Bambara ethnic group)
will be on the final exam. Do the reading.
On exams and quizzes I will ask questions that come straight from the readings.
Exams:
The midterm exam will be worth
100 points and given on October 20th. The final exam will be on December 15th at
2PM, also worth 100 points. Both exams will be comprised of multiple choice,
true-false, and matching questions, as well as short answers/essays. They will
cover material I have dealt with in class (including videos and lectures) as
well as the assigned readings.
Make-up
exams?
Hah! You'll need a very good excuse to take a make-up for either, especially the
final. Any makeup exam will be
ALL ESSAY and given only at my
discretion if you present me with verifiable excuse or proof of
extenuating circumstance (e.g., a death in the family, major vehicular problems,
documented illness) within 24 hours of the exam. Failure to do either results in
automatic forfeiture of the exam grade.
Quizzes:
I'll give 6 pop quizzes throughout the
semester at my discretion. That's
supposed to mean I don't tell you when they're coming. However if you're coming
to class they should be fairly easy to predict. Each will be worth 10 points.
Because only 5 count in the grading scheme the 6th one is either a bonus or a
drop, depending upon your perspective.
Hopefully quizzes will provide you
with tangible incentive to stay current on the readings and come to class. I
view quizzes as a proxy for taking attendance. If you miss quizzes and/or don't
keep up on the reading the effect on your grade is going to be negative. Quiz
format will either be short-answer or objective
(multiple-choice,
true-false, and matching) or perhaps a combination of both types of questions.
No make-up
quizzes will be given.
Group presentations and
individual papers:
Typically I have a set of topics of contemporary relevance
that I like to cover in the second half of this course. This time instead of
me talking about them it's going to be
you, both collectively and
individually.
Each person will be assigned a topic[1]
and a group. Groups will be comprised of five people. Each group then becomes
responsible for covering the topic in class. The presentation will need to be
based upon information collected from scholarly, scientific sources.
I
will provide each group with some starter material and class time but
you
must also locate additional material that will need to be approved by
me. We will be using class time for this so please do not blow it off!
Each
presentation should be approximately 30 minutes in length and must cover a
checklist of points that I will provide in advance.
In addition each group member will submit a short
(e.g., 8-10 page) paper using at least 10
bona fide scholarly sources, i.e.,
not Wikipedia! More details on both the group and individual components of
this project will be forthcoming shortly!
Extra credit:
None will be given. Just do what is asked of you and you'll be fine.
Accommodation: Students with disabilities who believe they may need an accommodation in this class are encouraged to contact Greg Toutges, Director of Disability Services at 477-4318 (Voice) or 1-800-627-3529 (MRS/TTY), Flora Frick 154 as soon as possible to ensure that accommodations are implemented in a timely fashion.
[1] The topics I have selected are:
Deforestation
Climate
change
Summary
of Evaluation Criteria & Grading Scheme
Component |
Points |
% of
grade |
Midterm
Exam |
100 |
28.5 |
Final
exam |
100 |
28.5 |
Group presentation |
100 |
28.5 |
Quizzes |
50 |
14.5 |
Total |
350 |
100 |
Grade |
Point range |
Avg. |
Grade |
Point range |
Avg. |
A |
315+ |
90 + |
C |
245-265 |
70-75 |
A- |
308-314 |
88-89 |
C- |
238-244 |
68-69 |
B+ |
301-307 |
86-87 |
D+ |
231-237 |
66-67 |
B |
280-300 |
80-85 |
D |
210-230 |
60-65 |
B- |
273-279 |
78-79 |
D - |
203-209 |
58-59 |
C+ |
266-272 |
76-77 |
F = |
<203 |
<58 |
Course schedule
Date |
Topics |
Reading |
Aug 25, 27 |
Introduction. |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapter 1 |
Sep 3, 8 |
Fundamentals
of ecology |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapter 2 |
Sep 10, 15 |
Human
Biological Ecology |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapter 3 |
Sep 17, 22 |
Cultural
Ecology |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapter 4 |
Sep 24, 29 |
Foraging/hunting and gathering |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapter 5 |
Oct 1, 6 |
Origins of food production |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapter 6 |
Oct 8, 15 |
Horticulture/small-scale
cultivation |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapter 7 |
Oct 20 |
Midterm exam |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapters 1-7
The Bakairi Indians of Brazil |
Oct 22, 27 |
Pastoralism/animal herding. |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapter 8 |
Oct 29, Nov 3 |
Intensive agriculture |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapter 9 |
Nov 5, 10 |
Current Issues and Problems |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapter 10 |
Nov 12, 17, 19, 24 |
In-class
time for work on group projects
and meetings with Dr. Roberts[2]
|
|
Dec 1, 3, 8 |
Student presentations |
|
Dec 15, 2PM |
Final exam |
Sutton &
Anderson Chapters 8,9,10 |
[2] This is not free
time and I will be checking who's been naughty and who's been nice!
Please note: details on this syllabus are
subject to modification. Changes will be announced in class, via e mail, and
posted on the D2L course website.
Official course outline
Minnesota State
University Moorhead
ANTH 307: Ecological Anthropology
A.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
Credits: 3
Lecture Hours/Week: 3
Lab
Hours/Week: 0
OJT
Hours/Week: *.*
Prerequisites: ANTH 110 - Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
Corequisites: None
MnTC Goals: Goal 10 - People/Environment
An
anthropological examination of cultural adaptation to the environment. Detailed
analysis of the major human subsistence strategies in diverse ecological
settings worldwide. MnTC Goal 10.
B. COURSE EFFECTIVE DATES:
04/11/2000 - Present
C.
OUTLINE OF MAJOR CONTENT AREAS
1.
Examination of pre-industrial human adaptive strategies: hunting and gathering,
horticulture, pastoralism, intensive agriculture.
2.
Detailed consideration of the rise of industrialized food production and an
assessment of its costs and
3.
Biotechnology and GMOs.
4.
Conservation of natural/communal resources.
5.
Indigenous technical knowledge and its potential to contribute to sustainable
development.
D. LEARNING OUTCOMES (General)
1.
Understand and appreciate the social and cultural adaptive strategies that
humans groups developed
in
dealing with diverse environments prior to the industrial age.
2.
Recognize the potential of this indigenous knowledge to contribute to
sustainable solutions to future food needs, energy provision, and resource
conservation.
3.
Analyze and critically assess the sociocultural, economic, and environmental
costs and benefits of industrialized agriculture, including biotechnologically
engineered food crops.
E. Minnesota Transfer Curriculum Goal Area(s) and Competencies
Goal 10 - People/Environment
1.
Explain the basic structure and fuction of various natural ecosystems and of
human adaptive
strategies within those systems.
2.
Discern patterns and interrelationships of bio-physical and socio-cultural
systems.
3.
Describe the basic institutional arrangements (social, legal, political,
economic, religious) that are evolving to deal with environmental and natural
resource challenges.
4.
Evaluate critically environmental and natural resource issues in light of
understandings about interrelationships, ecosystems, and institutions.
F. LEARNER OUTCOMES ASSESSMENT
As
noted on course syllabus