ANTH 258 / EVSTS 345 Introduction to Environmental Anthropology
Summer Session A (June 3 – July 5, 2013)
Instructor: Dr. Hande Ozkan
Email: hande.ozkan@yale.edu
Office hours: By appointment
Course Meetings and Location:
Tuesdays and Thursdays 1:00-4:15
Department of Anthropology (10 Sachem St.), Room 105
Course Description
This course is intended as an introduction to Environmental Anthropology, one of the subfields
of Cultural Anthropology. As an interdisciplinary field of research, Environmental Anthropology
studies the relationship between humans and nature. What are our definitions of nature, ecology
and environment? How do these definitions change between cultures and different scales? What
is ecological knowledge and how does it relate to resource use and control? How have humans
changed the environment and what influences does the environment have on human
communities? How do social structures such as race, ethnicity, gender and class influence into
the human-environment interactions? What about the role of science and the power of
knowledge production? How do indigenous communities, nation-states and markets affect the
use and control of the environment? This course will examine how anthropologists have
approached these questions.
The course is divided into three segments. The first segment will introduce students to the
theoretical foundations of environmental anthropology. Readings and lectures will focus on
cultural ecology, ecological knowledge as well as common-pool resources, major themes in the
formation of environmental anthropology. In addition to a few foundational texts, students will
also read more recent and/or critical applications of these theoretical approaches. The second
segment of the course is focused on environmental anthropology proper. Via texts on core
themes in environmental anthropology, students will be introduced to how the nature-culture
relationship is intricately tied to social structures, power and knowledge production. The
implications of race, gender, ethnicity, indigeneity and class as well as the role of science will
form the backbone of these discussions. The third and last segment of the course is intended as a
forum to synthesize all these discussions in the context of capitalism and globalization.
Assignments & Due Dates:
[A more detailed handout of the assignments will be distributed on the first day of class. This will
include a list of questions to guide you in the ethnographic assignment along with a handout on
human subjects.]
1)
Reading responses and discussion questions (total of 5 responses, 10 % of total grade):
You are required to submit a brief (one paragraph) reading response with a discussion question
for five of our course meetings. These reading responses are to be submitted via Classes*V2
website by 10am on the day of class. You do not need to spend hours polishing up these
comments. The goal is for you to take a few minutes to synthesize your ideas and notes on the
readings and also offer your own perspective on them.
Due by 10 am on the day of class
2)
Attendance and Class Participation (10% of total grade)
3)
Assignment 1 (5 % of total grade) Why did you take this course? In this brief (1-2
pages) assignment you are expected to explain what interests and motives led you to take this
course and you own definitions of anthropology and environmental anthropology. Do not worry
if you are not familiar with anthropology or environmental studies at all. The goal of this
assignment is for you to reflect on your own knowledge, interests and aspirations. If you are not
familiar with the field, focus mostly on the first part of the assignment.
Due June 7, 2013 by midnight
4)
Assignment 2 (25 %) Yale Sustainable Food Project: June and July are perhaps the
busiest months for the Yale Farm. For this assignment you will visit the Yale Farm to
1)interview at least one student/intern, 2) participate in the farm’s activities. Then (3) you will
write a brief ethnographic paper (2-3 pages) which includes a transcript of your interview as well
as an analaysis of your participant observation. Information about the Yale Farm can be found
here: http://www.yale.edu/sustainablefood/index.html. I will facilitate your access to the farm
and provide more details on the assignment in class.
Due June 14 by midnight
5)
Assignment 3 (20 %) Sustainability at Yale: In 2005 Yale established an Office of
Sustainability. For this assignment you will 1) review the university sustainability’s mission and
policies 2) interview a fellow Yale student about sustainability practices 3) write a brief (2-3
pages) ethnographic paper which analyzes the overlaps and/or conflicts between the discourse
and practice of sustainability
Due June 21 by midnight
6)
Assignment 4 (30 %) End of term self-evaluation: This assignment is intended to give
you the chance to sit back and think about what you learned in the course and to use this
knowledge to reflect on Frictions. I want you to use the book as a background against which you
can discuss what you learned in the course and what new questions you have. (~ 5 pages).
Due July 2 in class
Course Policies:
You are required to attend all the classes and participate in discussion. If you need to miss class
for a pre scheduled event, inform the instructor in advance.
Assignments should be submitted on time. Papers should be double spaced and use a standard 12
point font. Late assignments will lose points, so contact the instructor if you need an extension.
No plagiarism. If you are not confident about citations or are unsure about what exactly
plagiarism is, please contact the instructor.
If you need disability accommodations, please contact the Resource Office on Disabilities.
Course Materials:
The articles and book chapters listed in this syllabus are available as electronic texts on the
Classes*V2 website.
In addition to these online texts, there is one required book for this course. Please check the Yale
Bookstore to purchase it.
Required Book: Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection
(Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2005)
All films will be watched in class.
Office Hours and Meetings: Please do not hesitate to contact me via email or individual
meetings to discuss any issues/thoughts related to the course. Office hours will be based on
appointments.
Course Outline :
** Please note that there might be changes to the syllabus. **
PART 1 – HISTORICAL AND THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS
June 4:
Introduction – Overview of Cultural Anthropology and Environmental Anthropology
Clifford Geertz, “Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture”, in The
Interpretation of Cultures (New York: Basic Books, 1973): 3-30.
J. Peter Brosius, “Analyses and Interventions: Anthropological Engagements with
Environmentalism,” Current Anthropology 40, no. 3 (1999): 277-309 [NOTE: Please read
between 277-288 only].
William Cronon, “The Problem with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature”, in
Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature (New York & London: W.W.
Norton Company, 1996): 69-90.
[Optional: John Monaghan & Peter Just, “Chapter 1, A Dispute in Donggo: Fieldwork and
Ethnography”, in Social and Cultural Anthropology (Oxford & New York: Oxford University
Press, 200):13-33.]
Film: The Ultimate Lecture: Anthropology 101…..it’s the end of the world, no less.
June 6:
Roots of Environmental Anthropology - From Cultural Ecology to Ecosystem Analysis
Patricia Townsend, “Chapter 2: Julian Steward’s Cultural Ecology” and “Chapter 4: Pigs for the
Ancestors”, in Environmental Anthropology: From Pigs to Policies (Prospect Heights, Illinois:
Waveland Press, Inc., 2000): 10-17 & 28-33.
Emilio Moran, “Ecosystem Ecology in Biology and Anthropology”, in The Environment in
Anthropology: A Reader in Ecology, Culture, and Sustainable Living, eds. Nora Haenn and
Richard Wilk (New York: NYU Press, 2005): 15-26.
Julian Steward, “The Concept and Method of Cultural Ecology”, in The Environment in
Anthropology: A Reader in Ecology, Culture, and Sustainable Living, eds. Nora Haenn and
Richard Wilk (New York: NYU Press, 2005): 5-9.
Roy Rappoport, “Ritual Regulation of Environmental Relations among a New Guinea People”,
in Environmental Anthropology: A Historical Reader, eds. Michael Dove and Carol Carpenter
(Malden, MA/USA; Oxford, UK & Carlton, Victoria/Australia: Blackwell Publishing, 2008:
254-264.
June 11:
Ethnoecology, Traditional Environmental Knowledge, and Indigenous Knowledge
(Special topic of the week: Makah Whaling debate)
Patricia Townsend, “Chapter 3: Ethnoecology”, in Environmental Anthropology: From Pigs to
Policies (Prospect Heights, Illinois: Waveland Press, Inc., 2000): 20-25.
Melissa Leach and James Fairhead, “Fashioned Forest Pasts, Occluded Histories? International
Environmental Analysis in West African Locales”, Development and Change 31 (2000): 35-59.
Stuart Kirsch, “The Enchantment of Place”, in Reverse Anthropology: Indigenous Analysis of
Social and Environmental Relations in New Guinea (Stanford, California: Stanford University
Press, 2006): 57-78.
[Optional: Hunn, Eugene, et al., 2003, “Huna Tlingit Traditional Environmental Knowledge,
Conservation, and the Management of a `Wilderness’ Park,” Current Anthropology
44:Supplement, pp. S79-S103.]
Film: The Water of Words: A Cultural Ecology of an Eastern Indonesian Island, by Asch
Patsy and Asch Timothy and Fox James (Documentary Educational Resources (DER),
1983) 30 minutes.
June 13: Commons debate
Garret Hardin, “The Tragedy of the Commons”, Science 162, no. 3859 (1968): 1243-1248.
Arun Agrawal, “Sustainable Governance of Common-Pool Resources: Context, Methods, and
Politics”, Annual Review of Anthropology 32 (2003):243-262.
Courtney Carothers, “Tragedy of Commodification: Transitions in Alutiiq Fishing Communities
in the Gulf of Alaska”, MAST 90, no. 2 (2010): 91-115.
Film: Thirst, Alan Snitow and Deborah Kaufman
PART 2 –ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY: SOCIAL STRUCTURES, POWER
AND KNOWLEDGE PRODUCTION
June 18: Disaster, Collapse and Climate Change
(Special topic of the week: Easter Island debate)
Heather Lazrus & Carol Farbotko, “The first climate refugees? Contesting global narratives of
climate change in Tuvalu”, Global Environmental Change 22 (2012): 382-390.
Carla Roncoli, Todd Crane & Ben Orlove, “Chapter 3: Fielding Climate Change in Cultural
Anthropology”, in Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions, eds. Susan
A. Crate and Mark Nuttall (Walnut Creek, CA, Left Coast Press, 2009): 87-115.
Darwin Bond Graham, “The New Orleans that Race Built: Racism, Disaster and Urban Spatial
Relationships”, in Seeking Higher Ground: The Hurricane Katrina Crisis, Race, and Public
Policy Reader, eds. Manning Marable & Kristen Clarke (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008):
17-32.
June 20: Development, Conservation, Sustainability
Christine J. Walley, “ Our Ancestors Used to Bury Their 'Development' in the Ground:
Modernity and the Meanings of Development within a Tanzanian Marine Park”, Anthropological
Quarterly 76, no. 1 (2003): 33-54.
Karen Hébert, “In Pursuit of Singular Salmon: Paradoxes of Sustainability and the Quality
Commodity”, Science as Culture, 19, no.4 (2010): 553-581.
Anne M. Rademacher, “Introduction: A Riverscape Undone”, in Reigning the River : Urban
Ecologies and Political Transformation in Kathmandu (Durham: Duke University Press, 2011):
1-41
[Optional: PaigeWest, James Igoe & Dan Brockington, “Parks and Peoples: The Social Impact
of Protected Areas”, Annual Review of Anthropology 35 (2006): 251–277.]
Film: Home Waters, Robert Perkins
June 25: Environmental Justice (race, gender, ethnicity, class)
Richard White, “Are You An Environmentalist or Do You Work for a Living?”, in Uncommon
Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature (New York & London: W.W. Norton Company,
1996): 171-185.
Devon G. Peña, “Structural Violence, Historical Trauma, and Public Health: The Environmental
Justice Critique of Contemporary Risk Science and Practice”, in Communities, Neighborhoods,
and Health: Expanding the Boundaries of Place (Social Disparities in Health and Health Care),
eds. Linda M. Burton, Susan P. Kemp, ManChui Leung, Stephen A. Matthews & David T.
Takeuchi (New York & London: Springer, 2011): 203-218.
Melissa Checker, “Race-ing the Environment”, in Polluted Promises: Environmental Racism and
the Search for Justice in a Southern Town (New York: New York University Press, 2005): 1334.
Diane Rocheleau, Barbara Thomas-Slayter & Esther Wangari, “Gender and the Environment: A
Feminist Political Ecology Perspective”, in The Environment in Anthropology: A Reader in
Ecology, Culture, and Sustainable Living, eds. Nora Haenn and Richard Wilk (New York: NYU
Press, 2005): 27-33.
Film: Interview with Holly Barker on the Marshall Islands and nuclear testing
June 27: Agriculture, Food & Property Rights
Michael Pollan, “Power Steer”, New York Times Magazine (March 31, 2002).
Paige West, “The World of Coffee from Papua New Guinea, in From Modern Production to
Imagined Primitive: The Social World of Coffee from Papua New Guinea (Durhan: Duke
University Press, 2012): 1-32.
Michael F. Brown, “Ethnobotany Blues”, in Who Owns Native Culture? (Cambridge,
Massachusetts & London, England: Harvard University Press, 2003): 95-143.
[Optional: Elizabeth M. Fitting, “Introduction: The Struggle for Mexican Maize”, in The
Struggle for Maize: Campesinos, Workers, and Transgenic Corn in the Mexican Countryside
(Durham: Duke University Press, 2010): 1-32]
PART 3: COMMUNITIES, NATION-STATES, MARKETS
July 2 & 4: Nature, Nation-States, Globalization, Where Does this All Leave Us?
[NOTE: We will not meet on July 4, so please read the book for our July 2 meeting. This is not a
difficult text to read, so you can definitely finish it in four days.
Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection (Princeton & Oxford:
Princeton University Press, 2005)
Film: Disappearing World: The Kayapo, Terence Turner