Time Schedule:
J.Ben Fitzhugh
ANTH 469
Seattle Campus
Delineation and analysis of a specific problem or related problems in anthropology. Offered occasionally by visitors or resident faculty.
Class description
Special Topic on Historical Ecology.
How is human history shaped by the physical environment? How is environmental history shaped by humans? Is the conservation crisis a recent development? Is cultural complexity adaptive? Why do civilizations fail? What is sustainabile development?
This class in Autumn 2006 is designed to explore the historical dimension of the environment, human adaptation, and cultural evolution. The class will critically evaluate arguments made in popular texts such as Jared Diamond’s “Guns, Germs, and Steel” and “Collapse” and Hugh Brody’s “The Other Side of Eden” using the archaeological, historical, and ethnographic evidence. In the process students will come to better understand modern human-environmental dynamics as historically situated. Students can expect to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the role of human-environmental interactions in the unfolding of human history, both over long term of human history and the short term of decades and centuries. Case studies will be drawn from around the world.
Student learning goals
General method of instruction
Seminar. Students will explore the topic of human historical ecology through the evaluation of several provocative readings and problem-oriented discussions. Students will work together with the instructor to critically evaluate the claims made about human history by a set of popular authors. We will seek to go below the surface of these accounts by looking at the primary anthropological research that bears on the claims made and to develop a stronger understanding of how environment and culture have co-evolved and influenced each other in the history of human development.
Recommended preparation
One or more classes in archaeology (ARCHY), environmental/sociocultural anthropology (ANTH), and/or biological anthropology (BIOA) recommended but not required.
Class assignments and grading
Reading primary and popular scientific literature. Preparing written opinion statements, discussion questions, and debate points weekly. Leading discussion on readings 2 or 3 times in the quarter.
Two or three developed essays on topics covered in class. Active class participation.
