Environmental Anthropology Syllabus, p. 1

Spring 2010 Hartwick College

Professor Jason Antrosio Tue/Thu 2:30-3:50

, x4987 Yager 321A

Environmental Anthropology (ANTH-350-Gh)

At its most basic level, the subject of “Environmental Anthropology” is the interaction of humans with their environment.Anthropologists have been interested in such interactions from the advent of anthropology as an academic discipline.Early founders of anthropology, such as Franz Boas, initially hypothesized that environmental factors determine human culture.Although strict environmental determinism has been mostly rejected, ecological anthropologists have long focused on how humans adjust and adapt to the natural environment.Therefore, the questions of the degree to which human action is determined by the environment and how human groups might be classified according to the ways in which they interact with their environments are ongoing anthropological concerns.

More recently, environmental movements have used such anthropological work to suggest that so-called traditional human groups live in harmony with their environment, in contrast to a rapacious industrial system.This has spurred a reexamination of the extent to which even non-industrial peoples modify and change the environment.It has also led to questions about the origins and persistence of the very category of the “environment” or “nature.”How do humans conceive of “nature” and make the environment meaningful?This examination of the cultural construction of nature has gone on simultaneously with a deeper involvement by anthropologists in environmental issues and development, as anthropologists are increasingly involved in applied fields and activism.This course covers the basic components of these questions through a human ecology textbook and two ethnographies.

However, there is a deeper level where the concerns of “Environmental Anthropology” touch on central issues in Western thought and philosophy.The question of what is distinct about human interaction in an environment is also at the core of how we think and act in the world.This course examines three fundamental questions:

  1. What distinguishes humans from the natural world: Who are we?The answer for much of Western thought is that human cultural and social behaviors separate us from nature.This course challenges that view, urging us to go beyond dichotomous separations of nature and culture, instead revealing the organism-in-the-environment as a relational totality.
  1. What characterizes human action in the world: What do humans do?The Western answer has been that human action is distinctive because of our cognitive capabilities, expressed in thought, planning, and decisions.This course urges us to consider that these thoughts are as much a consequence of our actions in the world as they are precursors for them.
  1. What is the human trajectory: How did we get here, and where are we going?The Western answer has usually invoked teleology—that human history has a definite directionality or endpoint, and that the controlling forces or prime movers of history are therefore beyond human control.Once again, this course urges us to question our assumptions of automatic evolution, as well as the idea that human history is now determined by private profit and market mechanisms.

This course draws on various disciplines—art, biology, economics, geography, history, psychology—in order to question the divisions between these disciplines and the assumption that the world can be divided into separate spheres of knowledge and action.It re-examines the themes of “Introduction to Anthropology,” perhaps providing a “Conclusion to Anthropology.”

Required Texts

-Daniel Bates,Human Adaptive Strategies: Ecology, Culture, and Politics, Third Edition, 2005.

-Hugh Brody, Maps & Dreams: Indians and the British Columbia Frontier, 1988.

-Tim Ingold, The Perception of the Environment: Essays in Livelihood, Dwelling and Skill, 2000.

-Anna LowenhauptTsing, Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection, 2004.

Note: I recommend purchasing a three-ring binder. This will facilitate inserting and organizing the printed argument exercises, pre-class PowerPoint outlines, and other course materials.

Course Requirements and Grading

  1. Argument Exercises (44%): 22 at 2% each.
  2. Participation (19%): Discussion and contribution.
  3. Three papers (37%): First (10%), second (12%), third (15%).

Late work: Papers lose one grade level (i.e., B+ to B) for each day late. After one week, only half-credit is available.

Blackboard

Please log into Blackboard regularly for course announcements, PowerPoint slides (as pre-class outlines and as post-class summaries), argument exercise guidelines, posting assignments and grade updates.

Argument Exercises

Each class day there is an argument exercise that should be posted to Blackboard by 12noon. If you have any doubts about your Blackboard posting, please e-mail directly to me as an attachment. Due to the need for evaluation of the argument, 12noon is a hard deadline. Any exercise submitted after that time must be e-mailed directly to me and is automatically deducted five points. Please plan accordingly. Follow this template (also available on Blackboard):

  1. Summarize the main argument Ingold makes in this chapter.
  2. Why does Ingold make this argument? Who or what is he arguing against?
  3. Evaluate the evidence Ingold uses.
  4. Describe a possible connection between Ingold and Bates.
  5. What aspect of this reading is most important for in-class discussion or clarification?

At least three of the five sections should integrate a direct quote. The fourth section should always have at least one parenthetical page-number citation as a reference to Bates.

Argument exercises will be returned at the beginning of class. Students should be prepared to comment on their exercises during class discussion. Students should review any comments for substance and style issues. Argument exercises normally receive full credit (20 points), but grading markdowns will result from repeated writing or content issues.

Academic Honesty

Part of student engagement entails discussion of the materials with fellow students. However, assignments must be completed individually. Instances of academic dishonesty will be handled according to the guidelines of the student handbook.

Participation

At the college level, the role of the professor is to construct a context for learning. Learning—and the development of the course—depends on student engagement. Knowledge is actively created rather than transmitted. The components of participation include

Attendance and preparedness

  • Be present and punctual. If you must be absent, send a brief e-mail. Do not attend class if you have a contagious illness.
  • Bring books and have them ready to use.
  • Laptops are not permitted.
  • Power off cellphones.
  • If you must leave the class, please do not return.

Participation during class

  • Moderate notetaking.
  • Listen to your colleagues.
  • Contribute comments based on the reading.
  • Give other students a chance to speak.

Integrating

  • Carry over themes between classes.
  • Connect coursework from other classes.
  • Make connections to events and activities outside of class.
  • Demonstrate attentiveness through written work.

1. Nature and Culture: Who are we?

Tue 2/16: Introduction

Thu 2/18: Argument #1 due 12noon

  1. Ingold, pp. 13-26, “Culture, nature, environment: steps to an ecology of life”
  2. Bates, Chapter 1 (pp. 1-26), “The Study of Human Behavior”

Tue 2/23: Argument #2 due 12noon

  1. Ingold, pp. 40-60, “Hunting and gathering as ways of perceiving the environment”
  2. Bates, Chapter 3 (pp.56-86), “Foraging”

Thu 2/25:Argument #3 due 12noon

  1. Ingold, pp. 61-76, “From trust to domination: an alternative history of human-animal relations”
  2. Bates, Chapter 5 (pp 115-143), “Nomadic Pastoralism”

Tue 3/2: Argument #4 due 12noon

  1. Ingold, pp. 77-88, “Making things, growing plants, raising animals and bringing up children”
  2. Bates, Chapter 4 (pp. 87-114), “Horticulture: Feeding the Household”

Thu 3/4:Argument #5 due 12noon

  1. Ingold, pp. 89-110, “A circumpolar night’s dream”

Tue 3/9:Argument #6 due 12noon

  1. Ingold, pp. 111-131, “Totemism, animism and the depiction of animals”

Film: Rabbit-Proof Fence

Thu 3/11:*** First Paper Due

2. Living in the World: What are we doing?

Tue 3/16: Argument #7 due 12noon

  1. Brody, pp. 1-33
  2. Ingold, pp. 133-151, “Ancestry, generation, substance, memory, land”

Thu 3/18: Argument #8 due 12noon

  1. Brody, pp. 34-102
  2. Ingold, pp.27-39, “The optimal forager and economic man”

Tue 3/23: Argument #9 due 12noon

  1. Brody, pp. 103-135
  2. Ingold, pp. 157-171, “Culture, perception and cognition”

Thu 3/25: Argument #10 due 12noon

  1. Brody, pp. 136-177
  2. Ingold, pp. 172-188, “Building, dwelling, living: how animals and people makethemselves at home in the world”

SPRING BREAK

Tue 4/6: Argument #11 due 12noon

  1. Brody, pp. 178-213
  2. Ingold, pp. 209-218, “Globes and spheres: the topology of environmentalism”

Thu 4/8: Argument #12 due 12noon

  1. Brody, pp. 214-255
  2. Ingold, pp. 189-208, “The temporality of the landscape”

Tue 4/13: Argument #13 due 12noon

  1. Brody, pp. 256-283
  2. Ingold, pp. 219-242, “To journey along a way of life: maps, wayfinding and navigation”

Thu 4/15:*** Second Paper Due

3. Salvation and Damnation: Where are we going?

Tue 4/20:Argument #14 due 12noon

  1. Ingold, pp. 294-311, “Tools, minds and machines”
  2. Bates, Chapter 6 (pp. 144-171), “Intensive Agriculture: Feeding the Cities”

Thu 4/22:Argument #15 due 12noon

  1. Ingold, pp. 312-322, “Society, nature and the concept of technology”
  2. Bates, Chapter 7 (pp. 172-194), “Industrial Society and Beyond: Feeding the World”

Tue 4/27: Argument #16 due 12noon

  1. Ingold, pp. 323-338, “Work, time and industry”
  2. Bates, Chapter 8 (pp. 195-227), “Change and Development”

Thu 4/29:Tsing, pp. 1-18

Tue 5/4:Argument #17 due 12noon

  1. Tsing, pp. 21-77
  2. Ingold, pp. 339-348, “On weaving a basket”

Thu 5/6:Argument #18 due 12noon

  1. Tsing, pp. 81-112
  2. Ingold, pp. 349-361, “Of string bags and birds’ nests”

Tue 5/11:Argument #19 due 12noon

  1. Tsing, pp. 113-202
  2. Ingold, pp. 362-372, “The dynamics of technical change”

Thu 5/13:Argument #20 due 12noon

  1. Ingold, pp. 373-391, “‘People like us’: the concept of the anatomically modern human”
  2. Bates, Chapter 2 (pp. 27-55), “Evolution, Ecology, and Politics”

Tue 5/18:Argument #21 due 12noon

  1. Tsing, pp. 205-244
  2. Ingold, pp. 392-405, “Speech, writing and the modern origins of ‘language origins’”

Thu 5/20:Argument #22 due 12noon

  1. Tsing, pp. 245-272
  2. Ingold, pp. 406-419, “The poetics of tool-use”

24-26 May: Reading/Exam Days ***Final Paper Due