Anthropology 238

Cultural and Political Ecology

Spring 2005

 

Lecture:          T/Th: 12:45-2:05

Fine Arts Rm 269

Instructor:      Monty Roper

204 Goodnow Hall

Office phone: 269-3017
e-mail: roperjm@grinnell.edu

 

Office Hours:  M/W/F 10-12, and T/Th 2:15-3:30.  During office hours, you are welcome to stop by without an appointment.  I will also be happy to schedule appointments during non-office hours.  I am happy to communicate by phone or e-mail.  I check my e-mail regularly, though you should not assume that I have received your message until you receive a confirmation from me.

 

Course Description

This course takes an anthropological approach to examining the nature of human/environment interactions in small-scale indigenous societies.  We will begin with a brief overview of some of the most influential theoretical approaches historically and contemporarily used to examine the relationship of humans with their natural environment as well as some of the most pressing current issues or hot topics being examined by anthropologists.  We will then use five case studies to explore some of these theoretical and thematic issues in more detail.

The cases come from five distinct environmental regions (desert, arctic, tropical forest, tropical island, and savanna).  For each case study we will consider how human societies have adapted to these distinct environments: how they view and relate to their natural environment, and how they draw a living from that environment.  We will give particular attention to the nature of subsistence systems and how these in turn affect or otherwise correlate to various other aspects of a culture’s organization, practices, and belief systems (an approach known as cultural ecology).  Another focus of our examination will be to understand how the relationship between these indigenous peoples and their natural environment is being affected as both are increasingly influenced by participation in or interactions with larger-scale nation states and capitalist systems.  We will examine how and why environmental management is being affected under these conditions, giving special attention to the relations of power in struggles over natural resources (an approach known as political ecology).  We will also examine how local indigenous groups are being affected by these changes, what their responses are, and what role anthropology does or should play in environmental and/or indigenous advocacy and in researching and promoting alternative development strategies.  As the cases come from different parts of the world, we will have the opportunity to consider how different histories, politics, and manners of connectedness to the global political-economy differentially affect the use and management of resources and the indigenous groups that depend on them (or once depended on them).

Finally, we will also use some of the case studies to highlight key issues in environmental and applied anthropology such as environmental racism and justice, indigenous social movements, ethnobotany and indigenous intellectual property rights, and conservation and indigenous co-management.

 

Required Texts

·         Daniel Bates (2005) Human Adaptive Strategies: Ecology, Culture, and Politics.  Allyn & Bacon

·         Richard B. Lee (2002)  The Dobe Ju/'Hoansi 3rd Edition Wadsworth Pub Co

·         Debra Picchi (2000) The Bakairí Indians of Brazil: Politics, Ecology, and Change. Waveland Press

·         Paul Alan Cox (1999) Nafanua: Saving the Samoan Rain Forest. W.H. Freeman and Company.

·         Jim Ingoe (2003) Conservation and Globalization: A Study of National Parks and Indigenous Communities from East Africa to South Dakota. Wadsworth Publishing.

 

Recommended

·         Patricia K. Townsend (2000) Environmental Anthropology: From Pigs to Politics. Prospect Heights: Waveland.

 

Reserved Readings:  We will be reading a number of articles from journals and other texts.  These will be available on the course Blackboard site and in Goodnow Rm 304 (Student Project Room).

 
Course Requirements

1.      Exams: (55% total) There will be a midterm (25%) and a comprehensive final exam (30%).

2.      Opinion Papers – (30% total) Each student will be required to write three opinion papers (3-4 pages each ) choosing from 5 possible topics spread out over the semester.  One of these opinion papers must be revised and condensed (if necessary) and submitted to an appropriate source for publication or policy consideration.

3.      Class Participation – 10%:  A good part of this class will be held in discussion format.  Everyone is expected to keep up with the reading and come to class prepared to answer questions, ask questions, and engage in discussion of materials with the class. 

4.      Leading Class Discussion – 5%:  Each person will participate as part of a group that will lead class discussion for a day.

5.      Attendance – Attendance is required and I will take role.  Students will loose 1% off their final grade for each unexcused absence.  Any exam or in-class assignment that is missed because of an unexcused absence will receive a zero.  Excused absences include illness (substantiated by visit to health center or hospital), death in the family, or prior approval of instructor.

 

 

Note on the Syllabus:  The following provides a general structure for the course, but some of the reserve readings are tentative and others will likely be added or substituted.

 

T Jan 25

Review of syllabus.  Review of cultural anthropology.

·      Bates, Chapter 1

·      Townsend, Chapter 1

Th Jan 27

Review of cultural anthropology. 

Early Environmental Approaches & Cultural Ecology.

·      Bates, Chapter 1 cont.

·      Townsend, Ch 1-2

·      RR: J Steward, “The Concept and Method of Cultural Ecology”

·      RR: Moran, Chapter 2: Theories of Human/Habitat Interaction up to the 1950s.

T Feb 1

Environmental Approaches:  Materialist vs. Symbolic Approaches, Ecological Anthro, Ethnoecology.

·      Bates, Chapter 2 Pp: 27-46.

·      Townsend, Chapters 3-5

·      RR: Mary Douglas: Purity and Danger.  Read: "Introduction", and "The Abominations of Leviticus."

·      RR: Marvin Harris: Cows, Pigs, Wars and Witches.  Read: "Pig Lovers and Pig Haters"

·      Supplemental RR: Roy Rappaport, 1979 “Ritual Regulation of Environmental Relations among a New Guinea People.”  In Roy Rappaport, Ecology Meaning & Religion.  North Atlantic Books.

Th Feb 3

Environmental Approaches: Environmental and Social Change

·      Townsend, Chapters 7-10

 

A.  Social Causes of Environmental Degradation (Political Ecology)

·      Susan Stonich.  I am Destroying the Land... Ch. 1 “Linking Development, Population, and the Environment: Perspectives and Methods”

·      P. Little and M. Horowitz.  “Introduction: Social Science Perspectives on Land, Ecology, and Development.  In P. Little et al. 1987  Lands at Risk in the Third World: Local-Level Perspectives.

·      Michael Painter.  “Introduction: Anthropological Perspectives on Environmental Destruction.”  In, M. Painter and W. Durham (eds.) The Social Causes of Environmental Destruction in Latin America.  1998

 

B.  Environmental Racism and Impact of Environmental Change on Indigenous Peoples

·            Robert Goodland, 1988 “Tribal Peoples and Economic Development: The Human Ecological Dimension.”  In, J. Bodley (ed) Tribal Peoples and Development Issues.

·        Barbara Rose Johnston  1994  “Environmental Degradation and Human Rights Abuse.”  In, Barbara Rose Johnston (ed.) Who Pays the Price: The Sociocultural Context of Environmental Crisis.  Island Press.

 

T Feb 8

C. Indigenous Responses, and Environmental Anthropology as Applied Anthropology

·         Burton et al "Natural Resource Anthropology"

·         Jason Clay, "Organizing to Survive". 

·         Barbara Rose Johnston.  The Abuse of Human Environmental Rights: Experience and Response.   In, Barbara Rose Johnston (ed.) 1994  Who Pays the Price: The Sociocultural Context of Environmental Crisis.  Island Press.

·         Al Gedicks.  Native Peoples and sustainable development. In, H. Collinson (ed) Green Guerrillas: Environmental Conflicts and Initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean.  1996.

·         David Maybury-Lewis.  A Special Sort of Pleading: Anthropology at the Service of Ethnic Groups. In John Bodley (ed), 1988  “Tribal Peoples & Development Issues: A Global Overview.  375-391.

·         B. Johnston.  Anthropology and Environmental Justice: Analysts, Advocates, Mediators, and Troublemakers.  In, C. Crumley (ed) 2001 New Directions in Anthropology & Environment Intersections.  Altamira Press.

 

 

Case Studies

 

A.  Foraging Peoples in Marginal Environments

Feb 10, 15, 17, 22

 

Key Issues:

·      Classic Style Ethnography

 

·      Cultural Ecology

 

·      Overview of Key Issues

 

·      Opinion Paper 1.  Reader’s Choice

 

 

The Dobe Ju/’Hoansi of the Kalahari

 

Readings:

  • Bates, Chapter 3  Pp: 56-74
  • Richard B. Lee (2002)  The Dobe Ju/'Hoansi
  • Robert Hitchcock.  Human Rights and the Environment in Southern Africa: San Experiences.  In, Barbara Rose Johnston (ed.) 1994  Who Pays the Price: The Sociocultural Context of Environmental Crisis.  Island Press.

Cultural Survival Update Articles

·         Richard Lee, “Progress or Poverty? The Dobe Ju|'hoansi”

·         Richard B. Lee, Robert Hitchcock and Megan Biesele, “Foragers to First Peoples: The Kalahari San Today

 

Feb 24,

March 1, 3

 

Key Issues:

·      Human Rights and the Environment

 

·      Mineral Exploitation

 

Opinion Paper 2: Drilling in ANWR

Native Americans of the Arctic and Sub-Arctic

 

Readings:

  • Bates, Chapter 3 Pp: 75-86.
  • Farley Mowat, “The Blood in their Veins.”  In, Elvio Angeloni (ed.) Annual Editions in Anthropology 92/93.  The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc.
  • Peter Freuchen, “Trading with Eskimos.” In, Elvio Angeloni (ed.) Annual Editions in Anthropology 92/93.  The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc.
  • Richard Condon, “Inuit Youth in a Changing World.” In, Elvio Angeloni (ed.) Annual Editions in Anthropology 92/93.  The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc.
  • Bryan and Cherry Alexander, “Back on the Land.” In, Elvio Angeloni (ed.) Annual Editions in Anthropology 92/93.  The Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc.
  • Richard Nelson, “Understanding Eskimo Science.” In, Elvio Angeloni (ed.) Annual Editions in Anthropology 00/01.  Dushkin/McGraw-Hill.
  • K.R. Reinhard.  Resource Exploitation and the Health of Western Arctic Man. In John Bodley (ed), 1988  “Tribal Peoples & Development Issues: A Global Overview.  211-221.
  • Norman Chance.  Contested Terrain: A Social History of Human Environmental Relations in Arctic Alaska.  In, Barbara Rose Johnston (ed.) 1994  Who Pays the Price: The Sociocultural Context of Environmental Crisis.  Island Press.
  • Richard Lee.  The Impact of Development on Foraging Peoples: A World Survey.  In John Bodley (ed), 1988  “Tribal Peoples & Development Issues: A Global Overview.  181-191
  • Readings on ANWR: TBA

 

 

 B.  Horticulturalists in Tropical Forests

March 8, 10, 15

 

Key Issues:

·      Ecological Anthropologies

 

·      Political Ecology – Players and Scales

 

·      Land Rights

 

·      Social Movements

 

Opinion Paper 3: Land Claims in Amazonia.

 

 

The Amazon

 

Readings:

  • Allen Johnson, 1982 “Reductionism in Cultural Ecology” Current Anthropology 23(4).
  • Stephen Beckerman, 1979 “The Abundance of Protein in Amazonia: A Reply to Gross.”  American Anthropologist 81.
  • Betty Megegrs and Clifford Evans 1957 “Environmental Limitations on Culture in the Tropical Forests.”
  • William Denevan.  1992.  The Pristine Myth: The Landscape of the Americas in 1492.  Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82(3):369-385.
  • Debra Picchi (2000) The Bakairí Indians of Brazil: Politics, Ecology, and Change.
  • Eduardo Bedoya Garland.  The Social and Economic Causes of Deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon Basin: Natives and Colonists.  In, M. Painter and W. Durham (eds)  1998  The Social Causes of Environmental Destruction in Latin America.  Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.  Pp: 217-248.
  • Marianne Schmink and Charles H. Wood.  The “Political Ecology” of Amazonia.  In P. Little et al. 1987  Lands at Risk in the Third World: Local-Level Perspectives.

 

Cultural Survival Readings

 

Additional Materials

·         Bruce Albert.  Gold Miners and Yanomami Indians in the Brazilian Amazon: The Hashimu Massacre.  In, Barbara Rose Johnston (ed.) 1994  Who Pays the Price: The Sociocultural Context of Environmental Crisis.  Island Press.

·         Judith Kimerling.  Oil, lawlessness and Indigenous strugges in Ecuador’s Oriente. In, H. Collinson (ed) Green Guerrillas: Environmental Conflicts and Initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean.  1996.

·         Christian Bay.  Human Rights on the Periphery: No Room in the Ark for the Yanomami? In John Bodley (ed), 1988  “Tribal Peoples & Development Issues: A Global Overview.  258-271

·         Leslie Sponsel.  The Yanomami Holocaust Continues.  In, Barbara Rose Johnston (ed.) 1994  Who Pays the Price: The Sociocultural Context of Environmental Crisis.  Island Press.

·         Darcy Ribiero (1962) “The Indian Protection Service: 50 Years of Work for Indigenous Peoples.  In, J. Bodley (1988).

·         Raymond Hames.  Game Conservation or Efficient Hunting.  In, McCay, Bonnie J. and James M. Acheson (eds.).  1987  The Question of the Commons: The Culture and Ecology of Communal Resources.  The University of Arizona Press.

·         W. Balée  People of the fallow: A Historical Ecology of Foraging in Lowland South America.  In P. Little et al. 1987  Lands at Risk in the Third World: Local-Level Perspectives.

·         Leslie E. Sponsel.  The Master Their: Gold Mining and Mercury Contamination in the Amazon.  In, B. Johnston (ed) 1997  Life and Death Matters: Human Rights and the Environment at the End of the Millennium.

 

 

Exam 1: Thursday, March 17th

 

SPRING BREAK

 

April 5, 7

Amazonia Continued – Social Movements and Land Reform

 

Readings: TBA

 

April 5, 6, 7:  Prairie Studies and Rosenfield Symposium on Grasslands

 

April 12, 14, 19, 21

 

Key Issues:

·      Indigenous Knowledge & Ethnobotany

 

·      Forest protection & conservation

 

·      Applied anthropology

 

·      Indigenous Environmental Movements

 

Opinion Paper 4:

Indigenous Intellectual Property

Samoa and Tropical Islands

Readings:

·      Paul Alan Cox (1999) Nafanua: Saving the Samoan Rain Forest. W.H. Freeman and Company.

 

Additional Readings:

·      H. M. Barker  1997  Fighting Back: Justice, the Marshall Islands, and Neglected Radiation Communities.  In B.R. Johnston (ed.)  Life and Death Matters: Human rights and the Environment at the End of the Millennium.

·      David Hyndman.  “Melanesian Resistance to Ecocide: Transnational Mining Projects and the Fourth World Island of New Guinea.”  In John Bodley (ed), 1988 “Tribal Peoples & Development Issues: A Global Overview.  281-298

 

 

C.  Pastoralists of the East African Grasslands

April, 26, 28, May 3, 5

 

Key Issues:

·      Parks & Conservation

 

·      Indigenous Knowledge and co-management

 

·      Common Property Management

 

Opinion Paper 5:

Conservation or Comanagement

Readings:

·      Jim Igoe (2003) Conservation and Globalization: A Study of National Parks and Indigenous Communities from East Africa to South Dakota. Wadsworth Publishing.

 

Additional Materials:

·         K.M. Homewood and W.A. Rodgers.  Pastoralism and Conservation. In John Bodley (ed), 1988  “Tribal Peoples & Development Issues: A Global Overview.  310-320.

·         John Bodley (1988)  “Tribal Peoples & Development Issues: A Global Overview.”  Section VII: Parks, Conservation, and Tribals.  Pp: 299-356.

·         Stevens, Stan (ed).  1997  Conservation Through Cultural Survival: Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas.  Island Press.

·         Peter Little.  Land Use Conflicts in the Agricultural/Pastoral Borderlands: The Case of Kenya.  In P. Little et al. 1987  Lands at Risk in the Third World: Local-Level Perspectives.

 

 

Wrapping Up

 

May 10

 

Intensive Agriculture

·      John Bennet.  The Ecological Transition: From Equilibrium to Disequalibrium.

 

Post Modern approaches to environmental anthropology: Deep ecology, Liberation ecology.

 

May 12

Wrap up and discussion

 

Final Exam

Wed May 18th 2:00 PM