SOAN 236 - Environmental Anthropology

FDR: SS4
Credits: 3

Drawing on conceptual and theoretical frameworks from anthropology, this course examines human-environment relations from evolutionary, phenomenological and cultural perspectives. Beginning with a consideration of fundamental questions regarding the complex relationship between culture and nature, the course addresses the historical roots of ecological thought and carefully considers what anthropology contributes to the understanding of the nature/culture dialectic. This approach is then applied to a wide range of “indigenous” knowledge; the phenomenological approach of landscape anthropology; the role of non-human airmails in the conceptual category of Third Nature; the implications of a present and future After Nature; and, finally, the intersections of environmental and human rights. Through close reading, discussions, films and collaborative activities, the course poses the broader question of how social and cultural systems could be transformed to better address the pressing environmental crises facing humanity.