Plants and People
GEO 6318
Professor: Dr. Maria Fadiman
Office: PS 347
E-mail:
Tel: 561-297-3314
Office Hours: T ues 10:00-1:00
Wed 12:00-3:00
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This course looks at the interaction between humans and plants. We will look at how people use plants in terms of traditional rural resource use and modern urban use. Examples of topics covered in class are: medicine, food, gardens, agriculture, religion, construction, ornamentation, and fuel.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
This course will explore how people use plants. We will look first at the concept of ethnobotany, and how this plays into all human lives. We will then look at traditional plants use in the developing world. The course will then move into how plants play a role people’s daily existence throughout the world. Some of the topics that we will address include: genetically modified foods, ornamentals, gardens, invasive exotics, agriculture, spiritual plant use, medicinal plants, alternative fuels, Non-Timber Forest Products, food plant identities and intellectual property rights. We will achieve the course objectives through a combination of reading, discussion, power point, and film.
COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
• Class participation: Students should be prepared to discuss the ideas and concepts brought up in class and the readings for every class period.
• Readings: Students should be prepared to thoroughly read the assigned texts, and to turn in written answers to questions given each week
• Leading Discussion and Preparing Questions: Students are expected to create questions for the class and to lead part of the class discussion on certain days.
•Current plant/people Issues: On a designated day, each student will bring in an ethnobotanical issue being currently presented in the media, and prepare a discussion question.
•Journal: Students will keep a weekly journal of their own interactions with and observations of their plants in their own lives.
• Project Paper and Presentation: Students will present their projects that they have been working on throughout the semester
COURSE SCHEDULE
WEEK 1: INTRODUCTION
•No readings due.
WEEK 2: CONCEPT: ETHNOBOTANY
• Balickm, M. and Cox, P. 1997. Plants, People and Culture: The Science of
Etnobotany.
WEEK 3: PALEOBOTANY
•Alcorn, J. 1984. Huastec Mayan Ethnobotany.
WEEK 4: TRADITIONAL
•Anderson, 1992. Land use strategies for successful extractive economies in
Amazonia. Advances in Economic Botany
•Balee, W. 1994 Footprints of the Forest
*WEEK 5: AGRICULTURE
•TURN IN JOURNALS FOR 1st REVIEW!!!!!!
•Anderson, E. 1967. Plants, Man and Life.
•Savory, A. 2002. Holistic Management
•Boster, J, 1984, Classification, cultivations and Selection of Aguaranua cultivars
of Manihot esculenta (Euphorbiaceae).
WEEK 6: MEDICINAL PLANTS
•Boom, B. 1989. Ethnobotany of the the Chacabo Indians
WEEK 7: METHODOLOGY
•Cotton, 1996. Ethnobotany: Principles and Applications.
•Martin, 2005. Ethnobotany: A methods Manual.
WEEK 8: INTELLECTUAL PROPERT RIGHTS
•Boldt, M and Long, A.J. 1984. Tribal traditions and European-Western
ideologies: The dilemma of Canada’s native Indians.
WEEK 9: ORNAMENTALS and GARDENS
•Tuan, Yi-Fu, 1984. Dominance and Affection: The Making of Pets. Yale University Press. New Haven : 18-36
WEEK 10: INVASIVE EXOTICS
• Stohlgren, T. J, et al.1999. Exotic plant species invade hot spots of native
plant diversity, Ecological Monographs
•Pemberton, R. W. 2003. The common staghorn fern, Platycerium bifurcatum,
naturalizes in Southern Florida.
WEEK 11: PLANT FOOD IDENTITY and GMOs
•Schlosser, E. 2001. Fast Food Nation
•Silva N, and Nelson D. 2005. Hidden Kitchens.
WEEK 12: MEDICINAL AND SPIRITUAL PLANTS
•Schultes, R. and Raffauf, R. 1990. The Healing Forest: Medicinal and Toxic
Plants of the Northwest Amazonia.
•Davis, W.1996. One River.
•Davis, W. and Yost, J. 1983. The ethnomedicine of the Waorani of Amazonian
Ecuador.
WEEK 13: NON-TIMEBER FOREST PRODUCTS
•Turn in Journals!!!!!!!
•Nepstad. D. and Schwartzman, S. (eds) 1992. Non-timber products from
tropical forests: evaluation of a conservation and development strategy.
•Padoch, C, 1988. The economic importance and marketing of forest and fallow
products in the Iquitos Region.
WEEK 14: ALTERNATIVE FUELS
•Potera, C. 2005 Transportation/fuels: Souped up yeast.
•Potera, C. 2002 Alternativ fuels: The economics of ethanol
•Rynd, L.R. et al, 1991. Fuel ethanol from cellulosic biomass
WEEK 15: PRESENTATIONS AND PAPERS DUE
WEEK 16: PRESENTATIONS AND PAPERS DUE
PROJECT REQUIREMENTS
Leading Class Discussion and Writing Questions
Class Discussion:
The objective of your group is to create meaningful discussion based on the readings. You can do this through posing questions, splitting people into groups, role playing, debating, and your own other creative ideas.
Questions:
Questions need to be posted on the Discussion Board in blackboard by 1:00 pm on the Monday before the class for which your group is responsible. In writing the questions, you are eliciting responses that indicate that the rest of the class:
1) Has read the article
2) Can analyze the reading
3) Can connect readings to each other
4) Can apply the concepts or examples to real life situation (s)
Grading: will be on student’s ability to fulfill the stated requirements.
Current people/plant issues
Each student on their assigned day will bring in an issue that is currently being discussed in the media. This can take the form of a newspaper article, or reference to a radio or television show (give source, time and show). This is NOT to be taken from an un-peer reviewed web site. The students on whose day it is, should describe the issue, how the media describes it, and a question to pose for the class from the issue. The student will also turn in a written record of the source.
Grading: will be on fulfilling stated requirements.
Journal
Each student will keep a legible, dated, journal throughout the semester. A minimum of one entry needs to be written each week. Each entry should address:
1) Something ethnobotanical that you notice during the week.
2) If it relates to class, how so.
3) What your reaction is to the noticed issue.
Each entry needs to be legible, but not necessarily grammatically perfect. This can be stream of consciousness.
Grading: will be on the effort demonstrated to reflect on the environment in your sphere of conduct, and to record your thoughts. You will not be graded on your opinions.
Project Paper and Presentation and Bibliography
Project: The student will choose a project concerning plants and people. This project will be carried out throughout the entire semester, culminating in the paper and the presentation.
Paper and Presentation:
The paper and the presentation will explain the project, the methodology, objectives, results, and personal experiences while collecting data. Each student will have 15 minutes for the presentation and 5 minutes for questions.
The Paper will be between 12-15 pages.
Grading: thoroughness of research, clarity and organization of presentation, and grammar.
Grading scheme
94-100 A
90-93 A-
87-89 B+
84-86 B
80-83 B-
77-79 C+
74-76 C
70-73 C-
67-69 D+
64-66 D
60-63 D-
GRADING
20% Class participation
20% Reading Questions (10 will be counted towards your grade)
20% Project Paper
20% Project Presentation
10% Leading Discussion and Question Writing
10% Journal and Current Media Issue
COURSE POLICIES
1) Written Assignments
All written assignments are due at the BEGINNING of class. Late assignments will be graded off 10% for each day after the deadline. This policy begins as soon as the deadline has passed. Papers turned in after class has started, will be counted as a day late.
2) Discussion protocol
All in class discussions will be conducted in a respectful manner.
3) Disabilities
In compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), students who
require special accommodations due to a disability to properly execute
coursework must register with the Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD)
located in Boca in the SU, room 133 (561-297-3880) or in Davie in MD I (954-
236-1222), and follow all OSD procedures.
4) Academic Honesty
All students are expected to do their own work on exams and papers. Any
cheating or plagiarizing will be reported.
Bibliogrpahy for Plants and People course
Alexiades, M. 1996. Selected guidelines for ethnobotanical research: a field manual. The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx.
Balée,W. 1994. Footprints of the forest. Columbia University Press, New York.
Boot, R.G.A. and R.E. Gullison. 1995. Approaches to developing sustainable extraction systems for tropical forest products. Ecological Applications 5:896-903.
Borgtoft Pedersen, H 1994. Mocora Palm-fibers: use and management of Astrocaryum standleyanum (Arecaceae) in Ecuador. Economic Botany 48: 310-325.
Chen, L.M.J. and I.M. Turner. 1998. The use of Epipremnum pinnatum (Araceae) in Singapore in the treatment of cancer: an unreported application for herbal medicine. Economic Botany 52: 108-109.
Cotton, C. 1999. Ethnobotany: principles and applications. John Wiley and Sons, West Sussex.
Dahlgren, B. 1944. Economic products of palms. Tropical Woods, Chicago Natural History Museum 78 :10-34.
Davis, W and J. A. Yost. 1983a. The ethnobotany of the Waorani of eastern Ecuador. Botanical Museum Leaflets, Harvard University 3: 159-217.
Duke, J.A. 1970. Ethnobotanical observations on the Chocó Indians. Economic Botany 24(3): 344-366.
Ford, R.. The Nature and Status of Ethnobotany. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
Plotkin, M. and L. Famolare, eds., Sustainable harvest and marketing of rain forest products. Island Press, Washington D.C.
Glenboski, L.L. 1983. The ethnobotany of the Tukuna Indians, Amazonas, Colombia. Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogota.
Heinrich, M., A. Ankli. B. Frei, C. Weimann, and O. Stitcher. 1998. Medicinal plants in Mexico: healers consensus and cultural importance. Soc. Sci. Med. 47:1859-1871
Knecht, M. 1980. The uses of Araceae in African folklore and traditional medicine. Aroideana 3: 63-62.
Martin, G. 2004. Ethnobotany: A methods manual. University Press, Cambridge.
Milliken W., R. P. Miller, S.R. Pollard, and E.V. Wandelli. 1986. The Ethnobotany of the Waimiri Atroari Indians of Brazil. Whitstable Litho, Kent.
Minnis, P. 2000. Ethnobotany: a reader. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.
Peters, C.M. 1994. Sustainable Harvest of Non-timber Plant Resources in Tropical Moist Forest: An Ecological Primer. Biodiversity Support Program, Washington, D.C.
Plowden, C., C. Uhl and F. Oliveira. 2003. The Ecology and Harvest Potential of Titica Vine Roots (Heteropsis flexuosa: Araceae) in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon. Forest Ecology and Management 182(1-3):59-73.
Sinha, A. and K.S. Bawa. 2002. Harvesting techniques, hemiparasites and fruit production in two non-timber forest tree species in south India. Forest Ecology and Management 168(1-3): 289-300.
Simpson, B. B. and M.C. Ogorzaly 2001. Economic Botany: Plants in our world. 3rd ed. McGraw-Hill, Boston.
Voeks, R.A. 1997. Sacred leaves of Candomblé: African magic, medicine, and religion in Brazil. University of Texas Press, Austin.
Examples of relevant journals:
Journal of Economic Botany
Journal of Ethnobiology
Journal of Ethnobiolog and Ethnomedicine
Journal of Ethnopharmacology
Phytochemistry