Courses
FES 747a/ANTHRO 581a
Society and Environment: Introduction to Theory and Method
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is an introductory course on the scope of social scientific contributions to environmental and natural resource issues. It is designed to be the first course for students who will be specializing in social science approaches as well as the last/only course for students who take only one course in this area. The approach taken in the course is inductive, problem-oriented, and case study-based. The course is divided into four main sections. Section I deals with the way that environmental problems are initially framed. Case studies focus on placing problems in their wider political context, new approaches to uncertainty and failure, and the importance of how the analytical boundaries to resource systems are drawn. Section II focuses on questions of method, including the dynamics of working within development projects, and the art of rapid appraisal and short-term consultancies. Section III deals with new approaches to environmental perturbation and change, examining public discourses of natural disaster and environmental security. Finally, Section IV is concerned with local peoples and the environment, with case studies addressing the issue of indigenous knowledge and its transformation.
FES 752b/ANTHRO 610b
Society and Environment: Advanced Readings
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is an advanced seminar on the social science theory of the relationship between society and environment, intended for students interested in research design and policy planning in this field. It is taught every other year. The course examines key theoretical developments and current issues in social/political/historical ecology and ecological anthropology. The aim of the course is to explore the wider social, historical, conceptual, and institutional contexts of resource-use. Emphasis will be placed on combining contemporary and historical perspectives, and symbolic and material approaches. The relationship between society and the environment will be examined through both contemporary theory and ethnographic examples, drawing on our own current research and writing. The course will draw heavily on case study material from South and Southeast Asia, but will address issues, methods, and theories of relevance throughout the world. We view the course as an opportunity for our students (and ourselves) to plumb critical issues, place their work in its wider theoretical context, and develop some of their own writing.
FES 753a/ANTHRO 541a/HIST 765a/PoliSci 779a
Agrarian Societies: Culture, Power, History and Development
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This seminar presents a multi-disciplinary perspective on the modern transformation of the countryside of the world. The rise of a capitalist mode of production as the engine of a world economy, the emergence of a contentious international polity of nation-states, and the propagation of rationalizing religions and standardizing education are three distinct yet intersecting processes in the modern transformation of the world since the 1500s. These processes have not been inevitable, nor irreversible, nor complete. However, they have been compelling, in so far as they have come to frame both our acceptance of and resistance to the modern order in which we find ourselves.
"Peasant studies" is a rubric for the loosely-bounded, interdisciplinary exploration of the initial modernization of the European countryside and the subsequent engagement and ongoing incorporation of the countryside of Asia, Africa, and the Americas into this modern order. At its most precocious, it tries to comprehend the intrusive thrusts of nation-state formation, capitalist production, and the rationalization of belief into the most distant agrarian regions of the world. At its most instructive, it insists that people everywhere have confronted those forces with their particular histories and distinctive, local configurations of environment, society, and culture. Everywhere, the encounters of old and new ways of viewing the world and organizing activities have been fitful and frightful, always metamorphic, but never uniform. Animating peasant studies has been the concern to demonstrate the varied ways in which peasants have shared in the making of the modern world that has in turn transformed their lives.
FES 759b/ANTHRO598b
Sustainable Development and Conservation: Advanced Readings in Social Theory
Course Description
This is an advanced seminar on the social science theory of sustainable development and conservation intended for students interested in research design and policy planning in this field. It traces the conceptual history of the ideas associated with sustainable development and conservation and examines how this history influences the funding, design, and implementation of projects. For example, this semester we will examine the idea of poverty, from the early industrial period (the first appearance of “the poor”) to today’s first UN Millenium Development Goal. We will also look closely at tools used in development and conservation, like mapping, viewing them not as objective and neutral but as subjective and political. Since 2005 is the year of microcredit, the political and economic implications of this popular model will be examined. We also plan classes on the politics of indigeneity, tropical forest management, and the evolution of political ecology. In a class with our colleague Chad Oliver we will examine the evolution of the idea of community in both the social and natural sciences. Mac Chapin will talk to us about the WorldWatch debate regarding international NGOs and indigenous peoples. Karl Zimmerer will discuss some of his recent work with us on the spatial dynamics of conservation and agriculture. And Henri Bastaman will discuss the cultural, political, and environmental implications of the recent tsunami disaster in Indonesia. This course represents an opportunity for students to examine critical issues, place their own work in a wider theoretical context, and develop their own research and writing.
Society and Environment: Introduction to Theory and Method
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is an introductory course on the scope of social scientific contributions to environmental and natural resource issues. It is designed to be the first course for students who will be specializing in social science approaches as well as the last/only course for students who take only one course in this area. The approach taken in the course is inductive, problem-oriented, and case study-based. The course is divided into four main sections. Section I deals with the way that environmental problems are initially framed. Case studies focus on placing problems in their wider political context, new approaches to uncertainty and failure, and the importance of how the analytical boundaries to resource systems are drawn. Section II focuses on questions of method, including the dynamics of working within development projects, and the art of rapid appraisal and short-term consultancies. Section III deals with new approaches to environmental perturbation and change, examining public discourses of natural disaster and environmental security. Finally, Section IV is concerned with local peoples and the environment, with case studies addressing the issue of indigenous knowledge and its transformation.
FES 752b/ANTHRO 610b
Society and Environment: Advanced Readings
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This is an advanced seminar on the social science theory of the relationship between society and environment, intended for students interested in research design and policy planning in this field. It is taught every other year. The course examines key theoretical developments and current issues in social/political/historical ecology and ecological anthropology. The aim of the course is to explore the wider social, historical, conceptual, and institutional contexts of resource-use. Emphasis will be placed on combining contemporary and historical perspectives, and symbolic and material approaches. The relationship between society and the environment will be examined through both contemporary theory and ethnographic examples, drawing on our own current research and writing. The course will draw heavily on case study material from South and Southeast Asia, but will address issues, methods, and theories of relevance throughout the world. We view the course as an opportunity for our students (and ourselves) to plumb critical issues, place their work in its wider theoretical context, and develop some of their own writing.
FES 753a/ANTHRO 541a/HIST 765a/PoliSci 779a
Agrarian Societies: Culture, Power, History and Development
COURSE DESCRIPTION
This seminar presents a multi-disciplinary perspective on the modern transformation of the countryside of the world. The rise of a capitalist mode of production as the engine of a world economy, the emergence of a contentious international polity of nation-states, and the propagation of rationalizing religions and standardizing education are three distinct yet intersecting processes in the modern transformation of the world since the 1500s. These processes have not been inevitable, nor irreversible, nor complete. However, they have been compelling, in so far as they have come to frame both our acceptance of and resistance to the modern order in which we find ourselves.
"Peasant studies" is a rubric for the loosely-bounded, interdisciplinary exploration of the initial modernization of the European countryside and the subsequent engagement and ongoing incorporation of the countryside of Asia, Africa, and the Americas into this modern order. At its most precocious, it tries to comprehend the intrusive thrusts of nation-state formation, capitalist production, and the rationalization of belief into the most distant agrarian regions of the world. At its most instructive, it insists that people everywhere have confronted those forces with their particular histories and distinctive, local configurations of environment, society, and culture. Everywhere, the encounters of old and new ways of viewing the world and organizing activities have been fitful and frightful, always metamorphic, but never uniform. Animating peasant studies has been the concern to demonstrate the varied ways in which peasants have shared in the making of the modern world that has in turn transformed their lives.
FES 759b/ANTHRO598b
Sustainable Development and Conservation: Advanced Readings in Social Theory
Course Description
This is an advanced seminar on the social science theory of sustainable development and conservation intended for students interested in research design and policy planning in this field. It traces the conceptual history of the ideas associated with sustainable development and conservation and examines how this history influences the funding, design, and implementation of projects. For example, this semester we will examine the idea of poverty, from the early industrial period (the first appearance of “the poor”) to today’s first UN Millenium Development Goal. We will also look closely at tools used in development and conservation, like mapping, viewing them not as objective and neutral but as subjective and political. Since 2005 is the year of microcredit, the political and economic implications of this popular model will be examined. We also plan classes on the politics of indigeneity, tropical forest management, and the evolution of political ecology. In a class with our colleague Chad Oliver we will examine the evolution of the idea of community in both the social and natural sciences. Mac Chapin will talk to us about the WorldWatch debate regarding international NGOs and indigenous peoples. Karl Zimmerer will discuss some of his recent work with us on the spatial dynamics of conservation and agriculture. And Henri Bastaman will discuss the cultural, political, and environmental implications of the recent tsunami disaster in Indonesia. This course represents an opportunity for students to examine critical issues, place their own work in a wider theoretical context, and develop their own research and writing.
