Course Schedule and Activities

1.  WEEK 1: January 8-12

Introduction to Basic Concepts:

·        Genetic and non-genetic adaptation

·        Adaptation as resource management

·        Critical problems presented by major terrestrial biomes.

·        Differences between anthropology and geography

Readings:

Moran, Chap. 1 in Human Adaptability, 2000

Ellen, Persistence and change in the relationship between anthropology and geography (On Reserve in ROOM 318, Curtiss Hall)

2.  WEEKS 2 & 3:  January 15-26

Development of People/Environment Studies:

·        Brief survey of the development of the field

·        Theories on the nature of human adaptation to the environment from Greco-Roman times to the 1950s

·        Theories of Julian Steward

·        Post-Stewardian Efforts

·        Ethnoecology and ecosystem approaches

·        Modes of production

Readings:

Moran, Chap. 2 and 3, in Human Adaptability, 2000.

Netting, Chaps. 1-5, Cultural Ecology

Flannery, The Ecology of Early Food Production in Mesopotamia, Science 147:1247-1256, 1965.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall)

Geertz, Two Types of Ecosystems, In Agricultural Involution (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall).

Boserup, The Conditions of Agricultural Growth, pp. 11-42.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall).

Steward, The Concept and Method of Cultural Ecology.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall).

3.  WEEK 4: January 29-February 2 

Principles of Ecology and Research Methods:

·        Flows of Energy

·        Matter and Information

·        Population Ecology

·        Ecosystem Ecology

·        Human Biology

·        Demography

·        Nutrition

·        Adaptation to Stress

Readings:

Moran, Chap. 4, Human Adaptability, 2000.

Netting, Chap. 6, Cultural Ecology.

Moran, The Ecosystem Approach in Anthropology, 1998, pp. 3-72, 309-319.

4.  WEEK 5: February 5-9 

Human Adaptation to Arctic Ecosystems

·        Extreme and prolonged cold

·        Low ecosystem productivity

·        Snow and ice cover

·        Prolonged light/darkness cycles

·        Evaluation of physiological and behavioral responses

Readings:

Moran, Chap. 5, Human Adaptability, 2000.

5.  WEEK 6:  February 12-16 

Human Adaptation to High Altitudes

·        Hypoxia

·        Low productivity

·        Cold and reduced reproductive success

·        Physiological and behavioral responses

Readings:

Moran, Chap. 6, Human Adaptability, 2000.

Netting, What Alpine Peasants Have in Common.  Human Ecology 4:135-146.  1976.

Guillet, Towards a Cultural Ecology of Mountains: The Central Andes and the Himalayas Compared.  Current Anthropology 24(5): 561-574. (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall)

MIDTERM EXAM

6.  WEEKS 7 & 8: February 19-March 2

Human Adaptation to Arid Lands and Grasslands

·        Scarce and uncertain water availability

·        Climatic extremes

·        Seasonality

·        Herd management

·        Relations with agricultural peoples

·        Resource control strategies

Readings:

Moran, Chaps. 7 & 8, Human Adaptability, 2000.

Mortimore, Shifting Sands and Human Sorrow: Social response to Drought and Desertification.  Desertification Control Bulletin 14:527-540.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall).

Bourliere and Hadley, The Ecology of Tropical Savannas (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall).

Dyson-Hudsons, Subsistence Herding in Uganda.  Scientific American 220 (2): 76-89. 1969.

English, The Origin and Spread of Qanats in the Old World.  Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 112 (3): 170-181. 1968. 

7.  WEEK 9: March 5-9 

Human Adaptation to the Humid Tropics

·        Problems of diversity and complexity of life forms

·        High levels of humidity

·        Lack of seasonality

·        Settlement size

·        Diets

·        Levels of activity

Readings:

Moran, Chap. 9, Human Adaptability, 2000.

Schmink and Wood, The “Political Ecology” of Amazonia.  In Lands at Risk in the Third World: Local-level Perspectives.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall).

Moran, Ecological, Anthropological, and Agronomic Research in the Amazon Basin.  Latin American Research Review 17(1): 3-32.  1982.

Spring Break: 3/12-3/16

8.  WEEKS 10, 11, & 12: March 19-April 6

Doing Ecological Anthropology

·        Discussion of methods in relation to examples of ecological studies (a population study in Mexico and Indonesian irrigation systems and rice farming, sustainability, and environmentalism).

Readings:

Moran, The Ecosystem Approach in Anthropology, pp.75-187; pp.75-187.

Netting, Chap. 6 “Testing Ecological Explanations”

Sheridan, Where the Dove Calls: The Political ecology of a Peasant Corporate Community in NW Mexico, 1988.

Lansing, Priests and Programmers: technologies of Power in the Engineered Landscape of Bali.1991.

10.  WEEKS 13, 14, & 15: April 9-27

New Directions in Ecological Anthropology

·        Population and Environment

·        Historical and Political Ecology

·        Common property resource management

·        The use of remotely sensed data in ecology

·        Deforestation

·        Desertification

·        Global climate change

Readings:

SEMESTER PAPER DUE APRIL 13, 2001

Moran, Chaps. 10 &11, Human Adaptability, 2000.

Moran, The Ecosystem Approach in Anthropology, pp. 323-457.

On Population and Environment:

Fish and Fish in Moran, The Ecosystem Approach, pp. 159-187.

Wagley, Cultural Influences on Population: A Comparison of Two Tupi Tribes.  Revista do Museu Paulista 5:95-104.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall)

Bates and Lees, The Myth of Population Regulation.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall).

On Common Property:

McKean, Common Property: What Is It, What Is It Good For, and What Makes It Work?  IFRI Research and program Studies. 1996.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall).

Ilahiane, The Berber Agdal Institution: Indigenous range Management in the High Atlas, Morocco. 1999.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall)

On Political Ecology:

Greenberg and Park, Political Ecology.  Online Journal of Political Ecology 1:1-12.  1994.

On Historical Ecology:

T. Patterson, Toward a Properly Historical Ecology, In C. Crumley, Historical Ecology, pp.  223-238.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall)

On Amazonian Deforestation:

Moran, Managing Amazonian Variability with Indigenous Knowledge.    In Tropical Forests, People and Food: Biocultural Interactions and Applications to development.  Man and the Biosphere Series Volume 15. (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall).

Moran and Brondizio, Land-Use Change After Deforestation in Amazonia.  In People and Pixels: Linking Remote Sensing and Social Science, pp. 94-120.  (On Reserve in Room 318, Curtiss Hall).

11.  WEEK 16: April 30-May 5

Finals Week