ANTH 307/ Ecological Anthropology
Final Exam Review Sheet
Spring 2009/Minnesota State University Moorhead
Dr. Roberts
Yes ladies and gentlemn, the final is cumulative. The first part (~ 50 points) will cover material up to
the mid-term. Look back at your notes on theory, foraging, horticulture, pastoralism, and intensive
agriculture and you should be okay.
The second part (~ 100 points) will be much more fun and cover material since the midterm lectures, Bates' chapters 7 and 8, assigned on-line readings, and the videos shown in class. The latter
include: Life Running out of Control; The Riches of the Elephants - Zimbabwe; A Land of Immense
Riches - Mozambique; The Shaman’s Apprentice. You'll find that I have links for most of these on the
course web-site. In some cases the descriptions are more elaborate than others.
The exam will consist of objective questions – multiple-choice, true-false, and matching – and a
couple of essays with some leeway for choice.
Industrial Agriculture
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Readings: Bates Chapter 7 and Industrial Agriculture in Evolutionary Perspective, by Peggy
Barlett.
What is the demographic transition and what's for food production?
In what ways did the industrial revolution contribute to greater intensification of food
production?
What were the Green and Blue Revolutions? Were they without costs?
What types of centralized administrative systems were developed in China and the former
Soviet Union in the 20th century and why?
Generally speaking, what happens to people when agriculture becomes mechanized and
agricultural products and labor become devalued in relation to other commodities?
Be familiar with the changes which took place in the case of Shinohata, Japan over the
course of the 1950s to 1990s.
Why is the case of Wasco, California illustrative of the development of agribusiness in the
U.S?
What kinds of differences did Sonya Salamon find between German and "Yankee" immigrant
farmers in the Midwest?
What did Creed's study of Zamfirovo reveal about collective agriculture in Bulgaria?
Biotechnology and genetically modified foods
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Readings: Stone – Biotechnology and Suicide in India; Brenton – HIV/AIDS, Food Insecurity,
and Genetically Modified Food Aid in Southern Africa; Tudge – The Greatest Folly of Our Age;
Whitman – Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?
What are genetically modified organisms?
What are some of the potential benefits they are thought to have?
What are some of the potential risks involved in their development and dissemination?
How do GMOs affect people at the level of both producer and consumer?
Why are corporations trying to patent crop genetic resources?
How are some individuals – e.g., indigenous peoples, social activists and organic farmers—
trying to fight this process?
What can/should anthropologists do about this?
Video: Life Running Out of Control.
Conservation of Natural/Communal Resources
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Readings: Igoe – Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Conservation to Local Communities;
Brockington and Igoe – Eviction for Conservation: A global Overview; Sodikoff – An
Exceptional Strike: A Micro-History of "People versus Park" in Madagascar.
Videos: The Riches of the Elephants - Zimbabwe; A Land of Immense Riches - Mozambique
What are the basic approaches to conservation we talked about in class?
Which type(s) is/are represented in the videos on CAMPFIRE in Zimbabwe and the Basaruto
Archipelago Project in Mozambique?
What kind of generalizations do Brockington and Igoe make with regard to evictions and
conservation?
Culture Change, development, and globalism
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Reading: Bates Chapter 8.
Video: Thirst
Over the course of human cultural evolution, what kinds of things have occurred during longterm culture change? Please try to understand the reasons for these related trends (i.e., do
not just memorize and regurgitate them!)
What are the differing assumptions of the modernization and dependency paradigms of
development?
What happened during and after the rapid entry of women into the industrial workforce in
the cases of Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Cuba?
What is cyberculture and what effect is it having upon cross-cultural diversity?
What are the various ecological consequences of postindustrialism that Bates discusses?
What are some of the critical contributions that have been made by development
anthropologists?
How does Della McMillan's involvement in the AAV planned settlement project illustrate what
Bates calls "impact assessment?" What lessons does she draw from her experience?
What does Bates say about those anthropologists who consider it unethical to interfere
directly in peoples' lives by participating in development projects?
Video: Thirst
Indigenous Knowledge and Sustainable Development
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Readings: Shebitz – Weaving Traditional Ecological Knowledge into the Restoration of
Basketry Plants; Demenge – Measuring Ecological Footprints in Subsistence Farmers in
Ladakh.
What is development and what is meant by the term sustainable development?
Who are the stakeholders involved in the utilization of indigenous knowledge in
development?
What roles can/should anthropologists play in this process? What happens if we don't get
involved?
How does the concept of ecological footprint apply to ecological anthropology?
Video: The Shaman's Apprentice.