Anthropology 133
Native Peoples and the Environment
Spring 2002
PROFESSOR:
Dr. Clark Erickson
435 University Museum
215-898‑2282
DESCRIPTION: Native Peoples and the Environment. Freshman Seminar; Writing Across the University (WATU) Program (fulfills ½ College Writing Distribution); Gen. Req. II: May be counted towards the General Requirement in History & Tradition (in some older listings, the course is numbered Anth 025).
The relationship between the activities of native
peoples and the environment is a complex and contentious issue. One perspective
argues that native peoples had little impact on the environments because of
their low population densities, limited technology, and conservation ethic and
worldview. At other extreme, biodiversity, and Nature itself, is considered the
product of a long history of human activities. This seminar will examine the
Myth of the Ecologically Noble Savage, the Myth of the Pristine Environment, the
alliance between native peoples and Green Politics, and the contribution of
native peoples to appropriate technology, sustainable development and
conservation of biodiversity.
OFFICE HOURS:
Thursdays 3:00 ‑ 5:00 pm & by appointment
ANTHROPOLOGY 133 HOMEPAGE: A Blackboard Course Homepage for this course can be found on PennNet at https://courseweb.upenn.edu/courses/ANTH133-401-2002A/.
This homepage will include on-line versions of the course description, syllabus, and handouts; updates on reading assignments and lectures; recent news items on native peoples and the environment; announcements about on-campus seminars and lectures related to the seminar topics; and links to web sites about native peoples and the environment. I recommend saving the address as a "bookmark" and regularly checking the site for new and updated information.
CLASS MEETINGS: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:00-1:30pm, Room 327, University of Pennsylvania Museum (Academic Wing).
REQUIRED TEXTBOOKS: available at the House of our Own Bookstore, 3920 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, tel.(215) 222-1576.
Redman, Charles
1999 Human Impact on Ancient Environments. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Krech, Shepard
1999 The Ecological Indian: Myth and History. W.W. Norton, New York
Smith, Nigel J. H.
1999 The Amazon River Forest: A Natural History of Plants, Animals, and People. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Anthropology 133
2002 Anthropology 133 Native Peoples and the Environment Bulk Pack Reader: a collection of required readings will be available for purchase at the Copy Center, basement of the Town Hall Building (Engineering), 220 South 33rd Street. Please note that the Copy Center has limited hours in the morning and afternoon and only accepts cash for purchases.
COURSE CONTENT:
This seminar focuses on the relationship between native peoples and the environment for freshmen. There are no prerequisites for this course. I will begin each class with a short lecture introducing the topic. This will be followed by student discussion. Because this course is a seminar, student participation in discussions is required. I may assign rotating groups of students to lead the discussions.
I use slide and digital presentations during lectures. Since you will be responsible for material presented during these illustrated lectures, you might want to seat yourself where you can see your notebook when the auditorium lights are dimmed. I generally do not stop the lecture to spell terminology, although you will periodically be provided handouts with lists of important terminology. Questions and comments are encouraged and may be asked before, during, or after lectures.
REQUIRED READINGS:
A reading syllabus is provided here and on the course web site. This syllabus may be periodically updated throughout the semester. You must read the required readings before the class meeting. You should be prepared to discuss the required readings for each class. I strongly suggest taking notes while doing the readings. These notes will be useful for in-class discussions and for preparing your papers.
GRADING:
Grading will be based on three writing assignments (three 5-10 page papers) and class participation in seminar discussions. This class is affiliated with the Writing Across the University Program (WATU). You will periodically meet with the WATU Fellow, Ms. Sharon Misdea, to discuss drafts of your papers. I highly recommend that you exchange drafts of your papers with fellow students for editorial comments before submitting the final versions.
Writing Assignments: I will discuss each writing assignment in detail later in the semester.
Assignment 1: See Handout: date to be announced
Assignment 2: See Handout: date to be announced
Assignment 3: See Handout: date to be announced
ATTENDANCE:
Students will be expected to show up for all class meetings (except religious holidays). Missing a class or two could negatively affect your grade. Please get the notes from other students if you have to miss a class meeting. The professor will not provide copies of lecture notes to students.
Anthropology 133
Native Peoples and the Environment
Fall 2000
Professor Clark L. Erickson
January 8: Introduction
January 10: Contemporary Political Perspectives on the Environment: Environmentalism and Anti-Environmentalism
January 17: Historical Ecology, the Archaeology of Landscapes, and the New Ecology
January 22: The Myth of the Pristine Landscape; Degradation vs. Enhancement of the Environment: How is it Measured? At what Scale? Against what benchmark? Disturbance, Change, and Biodiversity
January 24: What Do Native People Think and Know about the Environment, What can we Learn?
January 29: The Extinction of Pleistocene Big Game Animals of the Ice Age; The Impact of humans on Pacific Islands.
January 31: Cooking the Earth: Fire Histories and People
February 5: The Myth of the Noble Savage: Native Americans and Conservation
February 7: The Impact of Indigenous Hunting I
February 14: The
Domestication of Plants and Animals
February 19: Slash and Burn Agriculture in the Tropics
February 21: Native Agroforestry
February 26: Pre-Columbian Transformation of the Amazon.
February 28: The Signature of Settled Life and Farming on the Landscape
March 5: Pastoralists, Range Management, and Desertification
March 7: Native Fisheries
March 19: The Sirionó of the Bolivian Amazon
March 21: The Andes: A Built Environment; Applied Archaeology
March 26: Models of Sustainable Development from Amazonian River peoples I
March 28: Mapping Human Impact on the Earth using Computers and Satellite Imagery
April 2: Models of Sustainable Development from Amazonian River peoples II
April 4: The jungle as Pharmaceutical Cornucopia; Shamanism, Ethnobotany, Intellectual Property Rights.
April 9: Native Peoples and Green Politics: an uneasy alliance; Ecotourism, Cultural Tourism, National Parks, and Native Americans.
April 11: Human Activities: Good or Bad for the Environment? Indigenous Models for Management of the Environment
April 16: The role of Humans in shaping the Past and the Future
April 18: Preparation of Website.
Anthropology 133
Native Peoples and the Environment
Spring 2002
Professor Clark L. Erickson
January 8 Introduction
January 10 Contemporary Political Perspectives on the Environment: Environmentalism and Anti-Environmentalism
Hardin, Garrett
1998 [1968]The Tragedy of the Commons. IN Debating the Earth: The Environmental Politics Reader. Edited by John S. Dryzek and David Scholosberg, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 23-34.
Simon, Julian and Herman Kahn
1998 [1984] Introduction to the Resourceful Earth. IN Debating the Earth: The Environmental Politics Reader. Edited by John S. Dryzek and David Scholosberg, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 43-65.
Easterbrook, Gregg
1998 [1995] The Ecorealist Manifesto. IN Debating the Earth: The Environmental Politics Reader. Edited by John S. Dryzek and David Scholosberg, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 66-69.
Ehlich, Paul R. and Anne H. Ehrlich
1998 [1996] “Wise Use” and the Environmental Anti-Science. IN Debating the Earth: The Environmental Politics Reader. Edited by John S. Dryzek and David Scholosberg, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 70-80.
King, Ynestra
1998 [1983] Towards an Ecological Feminism and a Feminist Ecology. IN Debating the Earth: The Environmental Politics Reader. Edited by John S. Dryzek and David Scholosberg, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 429-437.
Lewis, Martin
1998 [1994] Introduction to Green Delusions. IN Debating the Earth: The Environmental Politics Reader. Edited by John S. Dryzek and David Scholosberg, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 398-410.
TEXTBOOKS:
Krech: Introduction
Redman Chapter 2
Raven, Peter
1994 Defining Biodiversity. Nature Conservancy. 44(1):11-15.
Lovejoy, Thomas
1997 Biodiversity: What is It? IN Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting our Biological Resources. Edited by Marjorie Reaka-Kudla, Don Wilson, and Edward O. Wilson, Joseph Henry Press, Washington D.C. pp. 7-14.
Janzen, Daniel H.
1997 Wildland Biodiversity Management in the Tropics. IN Biodiversity II: Understanding and Protecting our Biological Resources. Edited by Marjorie Reaka-Kudla, Don Wilson, and Edward O. Wilson, Joseph Henry Press, Washington D.C. pp. 411-431.
Mann, Charles C.
1991 Extinction: Are Ecologists Crying Wolf? Science 253:736-738.
Hecht, Susanna and Alexander Cockburn
1989 Seven Beliefs, True and False, about the Amazon. IN The Fate of the Forest: Developers, Destroyers, and Defenders of the Amazon. Verso, London, pp. 231-232.
January 17: Historical Ecology, the Archaeology of Landscapes, and the
New Ecology
Textbook:
Redman: pp. 89-90 (succession, climax community); Chapter 3
Botkin, Daniel
1990 Chapter 1. IN Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the Twenty-First Century. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 3-13.
Balee, William
1998 Historical Ecology: Premises and Postulates. IN Advances in Historical Ecology. Edited by William Balee, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 13-29.
Zimmerer, Karl and Kenneth Young
1998 Introduction: The Geographical Nature of Landscape Change. IN Nature’s Geography: New Lessons for Conservation in Developing Countries. Edited by K. Zimmerer and K. Young, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, pp. 3-34.
Blumler, Mark A.
1998 Biogeography of Land-Use Impacts in the Near East. IN Nature’s Geography: New Lessons for Conservation in Developing Countries. Edited by K. Zimmerer and K. Young, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, pp. 220-223 only [Clements, Succession Theory]
January 22 The Myth of the Pristine Landscape; Degradation vs. Enhancement of the Environment: How is it Measured? At what Scale? Against what benchmark? Disturbance, Change, and Biodiversity
TEXTBOOKS:
Krech: Chapter 3
Stahl, Peter W.
1996 Holocene Biodiversity: An Archaeological Perspective from the Americas. Annual Review of Anthropology 25:105-126.
Denevan, W.M.
1992 The pristine myth: The landscape of the Americas in 1492. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 82:369-385;
January 24: What Do Native People Think and Know about the Environment, What can we Learn?
Reichel-Dolmatoff, Gerardo
1976 Cosmology as Ecological Analysis: A View from the Rain Forest Man II:307-318
Ellen, Roy F.
1998 Indigenous Knowledge of the Rainforest: Perceptions, Extraction, and Conservation. IN Human Activities and the Tropical Rainforest: Past, Present and Possible Future. Edited by Bernard K. Maloney, Kluwer Academic Publishers, the Netherlands, p. 87-99.
Posey, Darrell A.
1992 Interpreting and Applying the “Reality” of Indigenous Concepts: What is Necessary to Learn from Natives? IN Conservation of Neotropical Forests: Working from Traditional Resource Use. Edited by Kent Redford and Christine Padoch, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 20-34.
January 29 The Extinction of Pleistocene Big Game Animals
of the Ice Age; The Impact of humans on Pacific Islands.
TEXTBOOKS:
Redman: Chapter 4
Krech: Chapter 1
Diamond, Jared
1992 The Golden Age that Never Was. IN The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal. HarperCollins, New York, pp. 317-338.
Stahl, Peter W.
1996 Holocene Biodiversity: An Archaeological Perspective from the Americas. Annual Review of Anthropology 25:105-126.
[pages 112-113 only]
January 31: Cooking the Earth: Fire Histories and People
TEXTBOOKS:
Krecht: Chapter 4
Pyne, Stephen J.
1998 Forged in Fire: History, Land, and Anthropogenic Fire. IN Advances in Historical Ecology. Edited by William Balée, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 62-103.
Boyd, Robert
1999 Conclusion. IN Indians, Fire, and the Land in the Pacific Northwest. Edited by Robert Boyd, Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, pp. 292-297.
February 5: The Myth of the Noble Savage: Native Americans and Conservation
TEXTBOOKS
Redman Chapter 1
Redford, Kent H.
1991 The Ecologically Noble Savage. Cultural Survival Quarterly 15(1):46-48.
Stearman, Allyn MacLean
1994 "Only Slaves Climb Trees": Revisiting the Myth of the Ecologically Noble Savage in Amazonia. Human Nature 5(4):339-357.
February 7 The Impact of Indigenous Hunting I
Stearman, Allyn MacLean
2000 A Pound of Flesh: Social Change and Modernization as Factors in Hunting Sustainability among Neotropical Indigenous Societies. IN Hunting for Sustainabililty in Tropical Forests. Edited by John Robinson and Elizabeth Bennett, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 233-250.
Redford, Kent, Bert Klein, and Carolina Murcia
1990 Incorporation of Game Animals into Small-Scale Agroforestry Systems in the Neotropics. IN Conservation of Neotropical Forests: Working from Traditional Resource Use. Edited by Kent Redford and Christine Padoch, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 333-348.
Bennett, Elizabeth and John Robinson
2000 Hunting for Snark. IN Hunting for Sustainabililty in Tropical Forests. Edited by John Robinson and Elizabeth Bennett, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 1-9.
TEXTBOOKS:
Krech: Chapter 5, 6, 7
February 19: The Domestication of Plants and Animals
Redman: Chapter 5
Hastorf, Christine
1998 The Cultural Life of Early Domestic Plant Use. Antiquity 72:773-782.
Pollan, Michael
2001 I, Pollinator. New York Times Magazine (April 22, 2001), pp. 21-22.
February 21: Slash and Burn Agriculture in the Tropics
Politis, Gustavo
1996 Moving to Produce: Nukak Mobility and Settlement Patterns in Amazonia. World Archaeology 27(3): 492-511.
Carneiro, Robert L.
1988 Indians of the Amazon Forests. IN People of the Tropical Rain Forest. Edited by Julie Sloan Denslow and Christine Padoch, University of California Press, Berkeley, pp. 73-86.
February 26: Native Agroforestry
Balée, William
1989 Culture of the Amazonian forest. In Natural Resource Management by Indigenous and Folk Societies in Amazonia. Edited by Darrell Posey and William Balée. Advances in Economic Botany 7. The New York Botanical Garden, New York, pp. 1-21.
Peters, Charles
2000 Precolumbian Silviculture and Indigenous Management of Neotropical Forests. IN Imperfect Balance: Landscape Transformations in the Precolumbian Americas. Edited by David Lentz, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 203-223.
February 28: Precolumbian
Transformation of the Amazon.
Parsons, James and William Denevan
1974 Pre-Columbian Ridged Fields. IN New World Archaeology. Edited by Erza Zubrow, Margaret Fritz, and John Fritz, Freeman, San Francisco, pp. 241-248.
Mann, Charles
2000 Earthmovers of the Amazon. Science. 287(5454):786 - 789.
Mann, Charles
2000 The Good Earth: Did People Improve the Amazon Basin? Science 287(5454):788.
March 5: The Signature of Settled Life and Farming on the Landscape
TEXTBOOKS:
Redman: Chapter 5, 6, 7
Stocking, Michael
1996 Soil Erosion: Breaking New Ground. IN The Lie of the Land: Challenging Received Wisdom on the African Environment. Edited by Melissa Leach and Robin Mearns, International African Institute, London, pp. 140-154.
Fairhead, James and Melissa Leach
1996 Thinking the Forest-Savanna Mosaic: Colonial Science and its Relics in West Africa. IN The Lie of the Land: Challenging Received Wisdom on the African Environment. Edited by Melissa Leach and Robin Mearns, International African Institute, London, pp. 105-121
March 7: Pastoralists, Range Management, and Desertification
Blumler, Mark A.
1998 Biogeography of Land-Use Impacts in the Near East. IN Nature’s Geography: New Lessons for Conservation in Developing Countries. Edited by K. Zimmerer and K. Young, University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, pp. 215-236.
Brockington, Daniel and Katherine Homewood
1996 Wildlife, Pastoralists, and Science: Debates concerning Mkomazi Game Reserve, Tanzania. IN The Lie of the Land: Challenging Received Wisdom on the African Environment. Edited by Melissa Leach and Robin Mearns, International African Institute, London, pp. 91-104.
March 19: Native Fisheries
Chernela, Janet
1982 Indigenous Forest and Fish Management in the Uaupes Basin of Brazil. Cultural Survival Quarterly. 6(2):17-18.
Erickson, Clark
2000 An Artificial Landscape-Scale Fishery in the Bolivian Amazon. Nature. 408:190-193.
March 21: The SirionÙ of the Bolivian Amazon
Balee, William
2000 The Siriono of the Llanos de Mojos, Bolivia. IN R.B. Lee and R. Daly (eds.), Encyclopeda of Hunter-Gatherers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 105-109
Townsend, Wendy R.
2000 The Sustainability of Subsistence Hunting by the SirionÙ Indians of Bolivia. IN Hunting for Sustainabililty in Tropical Forests. Edited by John Robinson and Elizabeth Bennett, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 267-281.
Additional readings will be announced
March 26: The Andes: A Built Environment; Applied Archaeology
Erickson, Clark L.
2000 The Lake Titicaca Basin: A Pre-Columbian Built Landscape. IN Imperfect Balance: Landscape Transformations in the Precolumbian Americas. Edited by David Lentz, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 311-356.
Treacy, John M. and William M. Denevan
1994 The Creation of Cultivable Land through Terracing. IN The Archaeology of Garden and Field. Edited by Naomi Miller and Kathryn L. Gleason, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, pp. 91-110.
Erickson, Clark L.
1998 Applied Archaeology and Rural Development: Archaeology's Potential Contribution to the Future. In Crossing Currents: Continuity and Change in Latin America. edited by M. Whiteford and S. Whiteford, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle, NJ, pp. 34-45..
March 28: Models of Sustainable Development from Amazonian River peoples I
TEXTBOOKS:
Smith: Chapters 1, 2, 3
Mapping Human Impact on the Earth using Computers and Satellite Imagery
Maschner, Herbert C.
1996 Geographical Information Systems. IN Oxford Companion to Archaeology. Edited by Brian Fagan, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp.248-250.
April 2: Models of Sustainable Development from Amazonian River peoples II
TEXTBOOKS:
Smith: Chapters 4, 5, 6, 7
April 4: The jungle as Pharmaceutical Cornucopia; Shamanism, Ethnobotany, Intellectual Property Rights.
Greaves, Tom
1994 IPA: A Current Survey. IN Intellectual Property Rights for Indigenous Peoples, A Sourcebook. Edited by Tom Greaves, Society for Applied Anthropology, Oklahoma, pp. 3-16.
King, S. R.
1994 Establishing Reciprocity: Biodiversity, Conservation, and new models for Cooperation between Forest-Dwelling People and the Pharmaceutical Industry. IN Intellectual Property Rights for Indigenous Peoples, A Sourcebook. Edited by Tom Greaves, Society for Applied Anthropology, Oklahoma, pp. 69-82.
April 9: Native Peoples and Green Politics: an uneasy alliance; Ecotourism, Cultural Tourism, National Parks, and Native Americans.
TEXTBOOKS:
Krech: Introduction and Epilogue
Clay, Jason
1992 Buying into the Forests: A New Program to Market Sustainably Collected Tropical Forest Products Protects Forests and Forest Residents. IN Conservation of Neotropical Forests: Working from Traditional Resource Use. Edited by Kent Redford and Christine Padoch, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 400-415.
Coordinating Body of Indigenous Peoples Organizations
1990 We are Concerned. Orion (Summer) pp. 36-37.
Conklin, Beth A. and Laura Graham
1995 The Shifting Middle Ground: Amazonian Indians and Eco-Politics. American Anthropologist 97(4):695-710.
April 11: Human Activities: Good or Bad for the Environment? Indigenous Models for Management of the Environment
TEXTBOOKS:
Redman: Chapter 8
Redford, Kent and Allyn Stearman
1992 Forest-Dwelling Native Amazonians and the Conservation of Biodiversity: Interests in Common or in Collision? Conservation Biology. 7(2):248-255.
Alcorn, Janis B.
1993 Indigenous Peoples and Conservation. Conservation Biology 7(2):424-426
Redford, Kent and Allyn Stearman
1993 On Common Ground? Response to Alcorn. Conservation Biology. 7(2):427-428.
Bailey, Robert C.
1996 Promoting Biodiversity and Empowering Local People in Central African Forests. IN Tropical Deforestation: The Human Dimension. Edited by Leslie Sponsol, Thomas Headland, and Robert Bailey, Columbia University Press, New York, pp. 316-341.
April 16: The role of Humans in shaping the Past and the Future
Pimm, Stuart L. et al.
2001 Can We Defy Nature’s End? Science 293:2207-2208.
Botkin, Daniel
1990 Chapter 12 and Postscript. IN Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the Twenty-First Century. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 185-201.
Hunter, Malcolm
1996 Benchmarks for Managing Ecosystems: Are Human Activities Natural? Conservation Biology 10(3):695-697.
Janzen, Daniel
1998 Gardenification of Wildland Nature and the Human Footprint. Science 27 279 (5355): 1312.
April 18: Preparation of Web Site.