Semester | Spring Semester, 2020 | ||
Department | MA Program of Ethnology, First Year MA Program of Ethnology, Second Year | ||
Course Name | Seminar on Cultural Ecology of Forests: Green Development, Conservation, and Climate Change | ||
Instructor | WORK COURTNEY KATHERINE | ||
Credit | 3.0 | ||
Course Type | Elective | ||
Prerequisite |
Course Objective |
Course Description |
Course Schedule |
Week 1- 2/19 Introduction - Contradictions and Complications Course Basics and expectations In-class Exercise: 4 Essential Tools for Critical reading and writing: Conversation; Argument; Evidence; Authority
Opening Theoretical Framework In-class Read: Berliner, D., M. Lambek, R. Shweder, R. Irvine, and A. Piette. 2016. Anthropology and the Study of Contradictions. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 6 (1):1–6.
In-class discussion What are the central Arguments of this essay? What conversation does it enter? How does it speak to the interlocutors?
Week 2: 2/26 The Web of Life
Read: Kirksey, Eben. (2015). Emergent Ecologies. Durham and London: Duke University Press. Introduction and Chapter 1 Castree, Noel. Making sense of nature. Routledge, 2013. Chapter 2: Representing Nature
In-class video: Prey Lang Watershed video- Alan Michaud https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRNo70enWPM&index=16&list=PL9CX_QcOMssnXVq1FWwV4-Cd3nhZd_ymk
Week 3: 3/4 Forests as Ecosystems Critique these two websites http://www.greenfacts.org/en/biodiversity/l-3/1-define-biodiversity.htm http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/biodiversity/?src=footer
Read: Gorzelak, M., Pickles, B.J., Asay, A.K., Simard, S.W. (2015). Inter-plant communication through mycorrhizal networks mediates complex adaptive behaviour in plant communities. Annals of Botany Plants 7: plv050.
Stamets, S. Mycelium Running. Mycelium Running: How Mushrooms Can Help Save the World. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005. (Part 1)
Ellison, D., M. N. Futter, and K. Bishop. 2012. ‘On the forest cover-water yield debate: From demand- to supply-side thinking’. Global Change Biology 18 (3):806–820.
In-class exercise Artful Amoeba http://www.radiolab.org/story/from-tree-to-shining-tree/
In-class discussion Under what Authority do each of this week’s authors (including web sites) make the claims they make? What are the main claims from each of our readings, audio, and web presentations? Taken together, what conversation emerges from this week’s materials?
Week 4 -5: Climate Change Facts and Cultures Week 4- 3/11 Review these websites https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/global-greenhouse-gas-emissions-data https://www.climatecommunication.org/climate/the-problem/ http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/mlo.html#mlo
Read: https://www.theguardian.com/science/political-science/2016/apr/26/abandon-hype-in-climate-models
Rayner, Steve 2016 ‘What Might Evans-Pritchard Have Made of Two Degrees?’ Anthropology Today 32(4): 1–2.
Lindisfarne, Nancy, and Steve Rayner 2016 ‘Climate Change’. Anthropology Today 32(5): 27.
In-class viewing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEgcu27-kjk
In-class discussion: Group Work- Break into small groups with each group addressing one of our Essential Tools for Critical Reading and Writing
Week 5: 3/18 Read: Soon, W., and S. L. Baliunas. 2003. ‘Proxy climatic and environmental changes of the past 1000 years’. Climate Research 23, 89-110 23 (2001):89–110.
Kinne, O. 2003. Climate Research: an article unleashed worldwide storms. Climate Research 24:197–198.
http://tos.org/oceanography/assets/docs/5-2_munk.pdf http://yournewswire.com/tens-of-thousands-of-scientists-declare-climate-change-a-hoax/
Handley, G. B. 2015. ‘Climate Change, Cosmology, and Poetry: The case of Derek Walcott’s Omeros’. In Global Ecologies and the Environmental Humanities: Postcolonial Approaches, eds. E. DeLoughrey, J. Didur, and A. Carrigan. New York and London: Routledge.
In-class discussion: Evidence and Authority: What evidence is marshalled in support of the author’s arguments? What is the authority of the author?
Week 6, 8, and 9: Forests, Climate Change, and Development
Week 6- 3/25: Theory Fairhead, J., Leach, M., & Scoones, I. (2012). Green Grabbing: a new appropriation of nature? The Journal of Peasant Studies, 39(2), 237–261.
Tsing, A. L. 2001. Inside the Economy of Appearances. In Globalization, 155–88. Durhan: Duke University Press.
First take-home exam: Due 3/27 5pm Answer these two questions:
Week 7- 4/1: USAID Sustainable Forests and Biodiversity Project Read: Project documents, project reports, and evaluations: Case study Cambodia https://www.climatelinks.org/resources/usaid-cambodia-sfb-project-supporting-forests-enriching-lives (2014 webinar, 4min). 2016- Mid-term report 2018- Final Report
Milne, S. 2015. ‘Cambodia’s Unofficial Regime of Extraction: Illicit Logging in the Shadow of Transnational Governance and Investment’. Critical Asian Studies. 47 (2):200–228.
In-class discussion: Group Work- each group answer one question and present What is the purpose of this project (Conversation)? What are the objectives of this project (Argument)? Through which activities will those objectives be met (Authority)? Why do they choose these activities (Evidence)? In-class exercise: http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/court-plans-probe-mondulkiri-logging-claims http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/men-charged-case-monkey-poaching http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/soldiers-home-hiding-luxury-wood-officials
Week 8- 4/8: UN-REDD Read : Project documents – PDF project evaluation https://www.unredd.net/about/what-is-redd-plus.html
Ingalls, M. L., and M. B. Dwyer. 2016. ‘Missing the forest for the trees? Navigating the trade-offs between mitigation and adaptation under REDD’. Climatic Change. online.
Week 9- 4/15: Midterm Exam (Essay Due 4/17, 5pm)- No Class Choose one of the following questions and write a maximum of 1500 words in answer
Week 10, 11, and 12: Forest Governance Week 10- 4/22 Theory Scott, J. C. 1998. Seeing like a state: How certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. First. New Haven: Yale University Press. Introduction and Chapter 1
Historical Antecedents Peluso, N. L. 1992. Rich forests, poor people: Resource control and resistance in Java. Berkeley: University of California Press. Introduction and Part 2 Week 11- 4/29 Maps, Boundaries, and Appropriate Use Wood, Denis. Rethinking the power of maps. Guilford Press, 2010. Chapter 1: Maps Blossom in the Springtime of the State
Cooke, F. M. 2003. ‘Maps and Counter-Maps: Globalized Imaginings and Local Realities of Sarawak’s Plantation Agriculture’. Journal of Southeast Asian Studies 34 (May 2001):265–284. Week 12- 5/6 Laws, Access, and Exclusion Ribot, J. C., and N. L. Peluso. 2009. ‘A Theory of Access*’. Rural Sociology. 68 (2):153–181.
Montefrio, M. J. F., and W. H. Dressler. 2016. ‘The Green Economy and Constructions of the “Idle” and “Unproductive” Uplands in the Philippines’. World Development 79:114–126.
Work, C., and A. Beban. 2016. ‘Mapping the Srok: The Mimeses of Land Title in Cambodia’. Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 31 (1):37–80.
Week 13 and 14: Forests and People Week 13- 5/13 Theory: Thinking with Forests and People
Read: Kohn, E. 2013. How forests think: Toward an anthropology beyond the human. (Intro and Chapter 5)
Sanga, G., &Ortalli, G. (2003). Nature Knowledge. New York and Oxford: Berghahn Books. (Selections)
Week 14- 5/20 Forest economies Read: Peluso, N. L. 1992. Rich forests, poor people: Resource control and resistance in Java. Berkeley: University of California Press. Chapter 4: Organized forest violence; Reorganized forest access, 1942-66.
Tsing, A. 2012. Unruly Edges: Mushrooms as Companion Species. Environmental Humanities 1:141–154.
In-class video A Forest of Fortune https://vimeo.com/channels/thesourceproject/71439102
Week 15, 16, and 17: Thinking into the Future
Week 15- 5/27: The Anthropocene and the more than human world to come In-class viewing What explains the rise of humans? https://www.ted.com/talks/yuval_noah_harari_what_explains_the_rise_of_humans
Read: Dove, M., P. E. Sajise, and A. A. Doolittle eds. 2011. “The Wild and the Tame in Protected-Areas Management in Peninsular Malaysia”. In, Beyond the Sacred Forest: Complicating Conservation in Southeast Asia. Chapel Hill: Duke University Press.
Descola, P. 2009. Human natures. Social Anthropology 17 (2):145–157.
Latour, B. 2014. Agency at the Time of the Anthropocene. New Literary History 45 (1):1–18.
Week 16- 6/3: Resourcefulness Read: MacKinnon, D., and K. D. Derickson. 2013. From resilience to resourcefulness: A critique of resilience policy and activism. Progress in Human Geography 37 (2):253–270.
Lockyer, Joshua, and James R. Veteto. 2013. Environmental anthropology engaging ecotopia: bioregionalism, permaculture, and ecovillages. New York: Berghahn Books. (Introduction)
Review: http://permaculturenews.org/what-is-permaculture/ https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKX7uaOkWqFBEzplOqzh5h1BJQGOUZP_h
Week 17- 6/10: Living with Change Read: Scott, James. 2017. Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Early States. New Haven: Yale University Press. Agroecology of the Early State (116-124), and Praising Collapse (209-218).
Parker, Ingrid M. 2017. “Remembering our Amnesia, Seeing in our Blindness”. In, Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet. Ed, Tsing, Anna, Heather Swanson, Elaine Gan, and Nils Bubandt. University of Minnesota Press, pp. M155-M167.
Sagan, Dorion. 2017. “Beautiful Monsters: Terra in the Cyanocene”. In, Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet. Ed, Tsing, Anna, Heather Swanson, Elaine Gan, and Nils Bubandt. University of Minnesota Press, pp. M169-M174.
Week 18- 6/17- No Class Final Take-home Short Answer Exam: Due June 18 5pm
Write 1500-2000 words answering one of the following questions: Note: you may write on your own question with instructor approval
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Teaching Methods |
Teaching Assistant |
Requirement/Grading |
Take-Home Short Answer Exam (3) 75% Class Participation 25% Pop Quiz 4 (extra credit for exams) (25%) |
Textbook & Reference |
Castree, Noel. 2013 Making sense of nature. New York and London: Routledge. DeLoughrey, E., J. Didur, and A. Carrigan. 2015. Global Ecologies and the Environmental Humanities: Postcolonial Approaches. New York and London: Routledge. Kohn, Eduardo. 2013. How forests think: Toward an anthropology beyond the human. Berkeley: University of California Press. Lockyer, Joshua, and James R. Veteto. 2013. Environmental anthropology engaging ecotopia: bioregionalism, permaculture, and ecovillages. New York: Berghahn Books. Peluso, Nancy Lee. 1992. Rich forests, poor people: Resource control and resistance in Java. Berkeley: University of California Press. Scott, J. C. 1998. Seeing like a state: How certain schemes to improve the human condition have failed. New Haven: Yale University Press. [All course readings will be supplied electronically. Excerpts from these excellent texts will be used and students are encouraged to own them] |
Urls about Course |
Attachment |