Anthropology and the Environment
Environmental Anthropology
Anthropology 289, Fall 1999
Professor Michael Burton.
Class meetings: Wednesday 2-4:50 SST 318.
Course code 60550
We will read about anthropology research on contemporary
environmental issues in Southeast Asia, Latin America, and
Africa; with emphasis on forests, grasslands, and water systems.
We will review the classical material from the fields of cultural
ecology and ecological anthropology on human adaptations to
ecosystems. However, the major focus of this course will be on
the effects of globalization and economic development upon the
relationship between human communities and their environments.
Required books:
C. Geertz. 1964 Agricultural Involution
M. Painter and W. H. Durham (Eds). The Social Causes of
Environmental Destruction in Latin America
J. Fairhead and M. Leach. Misreading the African Landscape.
J. S. Lansing: Priests and Programmers.
We will read a number of articles that supplement the readings
from these books.
Students will be required to participate in class discussion, to
lead some of the discussions, and to write a research paper,
which will be due Friday of finals week, 5 PM.
Schedule of Topics and Readings
Week 2 October 6.
CULTURAL ECOLOGY
R. Netting. Cultural Ecology, Chapter 1. Ecological Perspectives. pages 1-7.
J. Steward. The Concept and Method of Cultural Ecology. pp 43-57 in J H. Steward. Evolution and Ecology. University of Illinois Press, 1977.
J. Steward and R. Murphy. Tappers and Trappers: Parallel Processes in Acculturation. pp. 151-179 in J H. Steward. Evolution and Ecology. University of Illinois Press, 1977.
F. Barth. Ecologic Relationships of Ethnic Groups in Swat, North Pakistan. American Anthropologist 58:1079-1089. 1956
M. Harris. The Cultural Ecology of India's Sacred Cattle. Current Anthropology 7: 51-66.
C. Geertz. Agricultural Involution Chapter 1: The Ecological Approach in Anthropology; Chapter 2: Two Types of Ecosystems. pages 1-37.
R. Rappaport, The flow of energy in an agricultural society Scientific American, 225: 116-132. 1971.
Week 3. October 13.
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
C. Geertz. Agricultural Involution Chapters 3-5, pp. 38-123.
M. Dove. Symbiotic Relationships between Human
Populations and Imperata Cylindrica. In Conservation Inputs
from the Life Sciences. M. Nordin et al. (Eds) Universiti
Kebangsaan Malaysia. pp. 187-200. 1981.
M. Dove. Theories of Swidden Agriculture and the
Political Economy of Ignorance. Agroforestry Systems 1:85-
99. 1983
J. P. Brosius. Green Dots, Pink Hearts: Displacing Politics
from the Malaysian Rain Forest. American Anthropologist
101:36-57. 1999.
Week 4. October 20.
CENTRAL AMERICA
M. Painter. Anthropological Perspectives on Environmental
Destruction. Introduction to M. Painter and W. H. Durham
(Eds). The Social Causes of Environmental Destruction in
Latin America.
B. DeWalt. 1985. Microcosmic and Macrocosmic Processes of
Agrarian Change in Southern Honduras: The Cattle are eating
the forest. In DeWalt and Pelto (Eds) Micro and Macro Levels
of Analysis in Anthropology. pp 165-186. Westview Press.
M. Edelman. Rethinking the Hamburger Thesis: Deforestation
and the Crisis of Central America's Beef Exports. Chapter 1.
of Painter and Durham. pp. 25-62.
S. Stonich. Development, Rural Impoverishment, and
Environmental Destruction in Honduras. Chapter 2 of Painter
and Durham.
N. Schwartz. Colonization, Development, and Deforestation in
Peten, Northern Guatemala. Chapter 3 of Painter and Durham.
S. Atran et al. Folkecology and commons management in the
Maya Lowlands. Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences, USA 96:7598-7603. 1999.
Week 5. October 27
SOUTH AMERICA
M. Painter. Upland-Lowland Production Linkages and Land
Degradation in Bolivia. Chapter 4. in Painter and Durham.
J. Collins. Labor Scarcity and Ecological Change. In P.D.
Little, M. M. Horowitz, and A. E. Nyreges (Eds). Lands at
Risk in the Third World: Local-Level Perspectives. pp. 19-37
Westview Press. 1987
W. H. Durham. Political Ecology and Environmental
Destruction in Latin America. Chapter 7. in Painter and
Durham.
E. M. Moran. Deforestation and Land Use in the Brazilian
Amazon. Human Ecology 21:1-21. 1993.
E. Moran. Nurturing the Forest: Strategies of Native
Amazonians. In R. Ellen and K. Fukui (Eds) Redefining
Nature. pages 531-555. Berg Publishers, 1996.
E. Parker. Forest Islands and Kayapo Resource Management in
Amazonia: A Reappraisal of Apete. American Anthropologist
94:406-428.
D. Posey. Reply to Parker. American Anthropologist 94:441-
443.
Week 6. November 3.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS; CONSERVATION;
AFRICAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
A. Escobar. Whose Knowledge, Whose Nature? Biodiversity,
Conservation, and the Political Ecology of Social Movements.
Journal of Political Ecology 5:53-82. 1998.
Brush, S. 1993. Indigenous knowledge of biological
resources and intellectual property rights: the role of
anthropology. American Anthropologist 95(3):653-686.
P. D. Little. Pastoralism, Biodiversity, and the Shaping of
Savanna Landscapes in East Africa. Africa 66:37-51. 1996.
J. T. McCabe, S. Perkin, and C. Schofield. Can Conservation
and Development be Coupled among Pastoral People? An
Examination of the Maasai of the Ngorongoro Conservation
Area, Tanzania. Human Organization 51:353-366. 1992.
J. Fairhead and M. Leach. Misreading the African Landscape.
Introduction, Chapters 1-3, pages 1-114.
WEEK 7. November 10
NORTH AND WEST AFRICA
J. Magistro. The Ecology of Food Security in the Northern
Senegal Wetlands. In A. E. Nyerges (Ed). The Ecology of
Practice: Studies of Food Crop Production in Sub-Saharan
Africa. pages 97-133. Gordon and Breach Publishers. 1997.
T. K. Park, M. Baro, and T. Ngaido. Crisis of Nationalism in
Mauritania. In T.K. Park (Ed) Risk and Tenure in Arid Lands:
The Political Ecology of Development in the Senegal River
Basin, pp 87-121. University of Arizona Press. 1993.
J. Fairhead and M. Leach. Misreading the African Landscape.
Chapters 4- 7, pages 115-236
Week 8. November 17
WATER SYSTEMS
J. S. Lansing. Priests and Programmers. Introduction,
Chapters 1-4, 6, Conclusion.
P. J. Vondal. The Common Swamplands of Southeastern Borneo.
In B. J. McCay and J. M. Acheson (Eds). The Question of the
Commons. Pages 231-249. University of Arizona Press. 1987.
November 24
WATER SYSTEMS; GENDER
P. Whiteley and V. Masayesva. The Use and Abuse of Aquifers:
Can the Hopi Indians Survive Multinational Mining? pp. 9-34
in J. M. Donahue and B. R. Johnston (Eds) Water, Culture,
and Power. Island Press. 1998
F. Berkes. Common-Property Resource Management and Cree
Indian Fisheries in Subarctic Canada. In B. J. McCay and J.
M. Acheson (Eds). The Question of the Commons. Pages 66-91.
University of Arizona Press. 1987.
K. Ettenger. "A River That Was Once So Strong and Deep":
Local Reflections on the Eastmain Diversion, James Bay
Hydroelectric Project. pp. 47-71. in J. M. Donahue and B. R.
Johnston (Eds) Water, Culture, and Power. Island Press. 1998
S. Stonich, J. H. Sorensen, and G. W. Salbador. Water,
Power, and Environmental Health in Tourism Development: The
Bay Islands, Honduras. pp. 263-284. in J. M. Donahue and B.
R. Johnston (Eds) Water, Culture, and Power. Island Press.
December 1
GENDER, FEMINIST POLITICAL ECOLOGY
D. Rochelau, B. Thomas-Slayter, and E. Wangari. Gender and
Environment: A Feminist Political Ecology Perspective. In D.
Rochelau, B. Thomas-Slayter, and E. Wangari (Eds). pages 3-
23. Feminist Political Ecology. Routledge. 1996.
E. Wangari, B. Thomas-Slayter, and D. Rochelau. Gendered
Visions for Survival: Semi-arid Regions of Kenya. In D.
Rochelau, B. Thomas-Slayter, and E. Wangari (Eds). pages
127-154. Feminist Political Ecology. Routledge. 1996.
J. A. Carney. Converting the Wetlands, Engendering the
Environment: The Intersection of Gender with Agrarian Change
in Gambia. in R. Peet and M. Watts (Eds). Liberation
Ecologies: Environment, Development, and Social Movements.
pp. 165-187. 1996.
S. Hanchett, J. Akhter, and K.R. Akhter. Gender and Society
in Bangladesh's Flood Action Plan. pp 209-234 in J. M.
Donahue and B. R. Johnston (Eds) Water, Culture, and Power.
Island Press. 1998.
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