Anthropology 323
Environmental Anthropology
Whittier College Spring 2014
Class meetings: Mondays and Wednesdays 8:30-9:50, Hoover 205
Instructor: Dr. Asya Anderson
Email: aanders5@whittier.edu
Office Hours: Wednesdays 10:00-12:00 and by appointment
Office Location: Platner Hall 104
Course Description
Anthropology is the study of human diversity, culturally and biologically, across time and space. Environmental Anthropology focuses on humans’ interactions with their environments. This course is an examination of many of the most important contemporary environmental issues from an anthropological perspective, but with an interdisciplinary approach. We will examine issues of population pressure, economic development, loss of biodiversity, resource security, food, indigenous issues, and globalization over the course of the next 15 weeks.
Primary themes of the course include:
• How does the boundary between “nature” and “culture” vary between human groups?
• What roles do people play in environmental change and how have these changed over time?
• How do cultural concepts of race, ethnicity, gender, and social and economic status mediate
human-environmental interaction?
• When do people act to conserve natural resources and how does this interface with
environmentalism and sustainability movements?
• How do cultural differences in food production and consumption affect local environments?
• How has “globalization” changed human/environmental interaction?
This class will be taught as a seminar. As such, it requires your active participation. It is your responsibility to stay on top of the reading. Complete all reading assigned for a given day before coming to class. As the reading load is heavy, at times organize your time carefully and pace yourself — don’t do all the reading the day before class; this will affect the quality of your participation. Ten times over the course of the semester (about once a week) you will be required to submit a short (approximately 2 paragraph) response to the day’s readings, along with two questions for class discussion. These reading responses and discussion questions are due by midnight the night before class, in order that I can read and synthesize these responses for discussion in class.
You will have one fieldwork project for this course and one final research paper in lieu of a midterm or final exam. Detailed information on these assignments will be presented to you closer to the due dates.
Required Texts:
Haenn, Nora and Richard R. Wilk. 2006. The Environment in Anthropology: A Reader in Ecology, Culture, and Sustainable Living. New York and London: New York University Press.
Townsend, Patricia K. 2000. Environmental Anthropology: From Pigs to Policies. Prospect
Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc
Pollan, Michael. 2006. The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals. New York: Penguin Books.
**Additional Readings will be posted on Moodle.**
Course Grading:
Your final grade will be calculated according to the percentages below:
Assignment 1: Why this class? - 5%
Attendance and Participation - 10%
Reading Responses 10 x 2% each - 20%
Assignment 2: Fieldwork Project - 30%
Assignment 3: Final Research Paper - 35%
Class policies
You are expected to attend all classes. Excessive absences will result in a negative effect on your grade. More than four (4) unexcused absences will result in a failing grade for the course. Late papers will be penalized one letter grade per day late. If you are having trouble completing an assignment on time, please come talk to me *before* the assignment is due. The best way to reach me is via email, although you are always welcome to stop by my office hours.
The syllabus as it is laid out here is not set in stone. I reserve the right to alter it as best fits the needs of the class. Please see Moodle for the latest version of the syllabus.
Students learn in different ways and are comfortable with different technologies. You are welcome to use a laptop, netbook, iPad, or similar in class meetings for note taking and referencing materials related to the class. You may not, however, use these devices for non-course-related purposes or in a way that is distracting to other students (or me!) in the classroom. If you are found to be doing so, you will be asked to put away the device and may be asked to leave the classroom. **The use of cellular telephones is not permitted in class at any point. Please be sure these devices are silenced and in your pocket or bag for the duration of class.**
- Teacher: Asya Anderson