ANTHROPOLOGY 95A: Culture and Global Environmental Problems
FALL 2008
My Office Hours This Fall:
Wed. 12:30-1:45pm and Thurs. 3:30-5pm
Course Schedule and Readings
Note: All readings are either from required course texts or on reserve in the Bailey-Howe Library or the Anthropology Department office (509 Williams Hall)
Part I: The Social Sciences and the Globalization of Environmental Problems
Course Introduction
Tues. 9/2: Course Introduction, Expectations, Requirements, etc.
No reading
Thurs. 9/4: The 'Global' Dimensions of Environmental Crises?
Reading: 1. Brown and Flavin, 'A New Economy for a New Century.' in State of the World 1999, pp. 3-21.
Tues. 9/9: Toward a History of the 'Global Environment'
Reading: 1. Worster, D. 'The Vulnerable Earth: Toward a Planetary History.' In Worster, ed. The Ends of the Earth, pp. 3-20.
Connecting Anthropology, Social Sciences and the Environment
Thurs. 9/11: Culture and Ecology
Film: 'In Good Hands: Culture and Agriculture in the Lacandon Forest'
Reading: 1. Milton, 'Anthropology, Culture, and Evironmentalism' and 'Culture and Ecology.' in Environmentalism and Cultural Theory pp. 8-68.
Tues. 9/16: The Meanings and Importance of Culture
Reading: 1. Introduction and Chapter 1, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism.
Thurs. 9/13: Resisting Determinisms
Reading: 1. Benton 'Biology and Social Theory in the Environmental Debate,' in Social Theory and the Global Environment, pp. 28-50.
Focus Paper #1 due 9/18 in class. (Go to Focus Questions)
Part II: Understanding the Causes and Consequences of Environmental Degradation
The Socio-Ecological Organization of Global Capitalism
Tues. 9/23: Perspectives on Globalization, Part 1: Labor and the Ownership of Resources
Film: The Global Assembly LineReading: 1. Chapters 2-3, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism.
Thurs. 9/25: Perspectives on Globalization, Part II: NAFTA and its Socio-Ecological Impacts
Reading: 1. Chapter 4, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism.
Tues. 9/30: Perspectives on Globalization, Part III: Twinkies and the Nation-State
Reading: 1. Chapters 6-7, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, pp. 102-130.
The Political Economy and Socio-Ecological Consequences of Rain Forest Destruction
Thurs. 10/2: Tropical Forests: Representations and Mythologies
Reading: 1. Chapters 1-3, Breakfast of Biodiversity.
Tues. 10/7: The Political Ecology of Agriculture in Costa Rica
Reading: (Required) 1. Chapters 4-6, Breakfast of Biodiversity.
(Recommended) Head, S. 'The Consumer Connection: Psychology and Politics.' In Lessons from the Rainforest, pp. 156-67.
(Recommended) Nations and Komer, 'Rainforests and the Hamburger Society.' The Ecologist 17(4/5): 161-7
Reading: 1. Chapter 9, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism, pp. 250-77 (SKIP 262-8).
Focus Paper #2 due 10/9 in class. (Go to Focus Questions)
Tues. 10/14: Traditional Ecological Practices in Rain Forests
Reading: 1. Chapters 1-3, Forest Dwellers, Forest Protectors.
Thurs. 10/16: Guarani Social Organization
Reading: 1. Chapters 4-5, Forest Dwellers, Forest Protectors.
Hydro-Power and its Socio-Ecological Effects: Sovereignty, Hydro-Quebec and the Cree
Tues. 10/21: Film: 'Flooding Job's Garden'
Reading: 1. Chapters 1-3, Defending the Land.
Thurs. 10/23: Cree Resistance and Sovereignty
Reading: 1. Chapters 4-6 and Conclusion, Defending the Land.
Impure Waters
Tues. 10/28: The Problem of Water
Film: "Thirst"
Reading: 1. Ward, Diane Raines. (2002) "Sweet Water." Water Wars: Drought, Flood, Folly, and the Politics of Thirst. New York: Riverhead Books, pp. 1-14
Focus Paper #3 due 10/28 in class. (Go to Focus Questions)
Thurs. 10/30: Globalizing Flows of Water
Reading: 1. Kaplan, Martha (2007) "Fijian Water in Fiji and New York: Local Politics and a Global Commodity." Cultural Anthropology 22(2): 685-706.
The Politics of Knowledge in the Climate Change Debate
Tues. 11/4: The Social Contexts for Constructing Climate Science and Policy
Reading: 1. Revkin, A. (2001) "Climate Research: The Devil is in the Details."The New York Times (3 July).
2. Trenberth, K. (1997) "The Use and Abuse of Climate Models"Nature vol. 386, March 1997, pp. 131-3.
3. McCright and Dunlap (2003) "Defeating Kyoto: The Conservative Movement’s Impact on U.S. Climate Change Policy."Social Problems 50(3): 348-73.
Thurs. 11/6: The Politics of "Thinking Globally"
Reading: 1.Taylor, Peter and Frederick Buttel. (1992) "How Do We Know We Have Global Environmental Problems?: Science and the Globalization of Environmental Discourse." Geoforum 23(3): 405-16.
2. Agarwal and Narain, Global Warming in an Unequal World.
Part III: The Culture and Politics of Saving Nature
Tues. 11/11: The Origins of Euro-American Environmentalism
Film: The Rhino War
Reading: 1. Chapters 1-3, Environmentalism: A Global History.
Thurs. 11/13: Culture and Environmentalism
Reading: 1. Grove-White, R. "Environmentalism: A New Moral Discourse for Technological Society?" In Milton, Environmentalism: The View from Anthropology, pp. 18-30.
Focus Paper #4 due 11/13 in class (Go to Focus Questions).
Tues. 11/18: The Wilderness Myth
Reading: 1. Chapter 4 and Afterword to Part 1, Environmentalism: A Global History.
Thurs. 11/20: Diversifying Environmentalism
Reading: 1. Chapter 6-8, Environmentalism: A Global History
2. Chapter 7-10, Breakfast of Biodiversity.
(Recommended): Chapter 10, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism.
Tues. 11/25-Thurs. 11/27: Thanksgiving Break (no class)
Part IV: Constructing Socio-Ecological Alternatives: Focus on Our Food System
Tues. 12/2: The Opportunities and Costs of an Industrial Agricultural System
Film: "Deconstructing Supper"
Reading: 1. Pretty, Jules (2002) “Food for All” In Agri-Culture: Reconnecting People, Land, and Nature. Earthscan, pp. 78-101.
Focus Paper #5 due 12/2 in class.
Thurs. 12/4: Considering the Alternatives: Solving for Pattern
Reading: 1. Berry, Wendell. “Solving for Pattern.” Good News of the Twentieth Century, pp. 154-63.
2. McWilliams, J. “Food that Travels Well.” The New York Times 8/6/07.
Tues. 12/9: Workshop on activism prospectus
No reading
Thurs. 12/11: Course Conclusions
No reading
Focus Paper #6 due 12/11 in class.
Activism Prospectus Presentations, during finals week: place and time TBA.