Fall Semester 2001 Office
Hours: Tu-Th 11am-12 pm and by appt.
Tu-Th 1-2:15 pm Office: 214 Machmer Hall
W-17 Machmer Hall Office
Phone: 545-0696
Website: http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~harper/ E-Mail: kharper@anthro.umass.edu
COURSE
OBJECTIVES:
This course
explores the politics of nature, culture, and scientific knowledge through the
lens of public health and environmental politics. Readings include ethnographic
texts examining environment and health in the US, India, China, Papua New
Guinea, and Eastern and Western Europe.
We will study two specific environmental health issues at length:
radioactive pollution and exposure to toxic chemicals.
In the first
segment of the course, students will be introduced to basic concepts of
political ecology and public health. In the second part of the course, students
will study ethnographic accounts of public health and environmental problems in
specific communities, examining power relations, the role of scientific
institutions, and local knowledge. During
the last segment of the course, students will study anthropological scholarship
on scientific knowledge, expertise, and risk. Requirements include class
participation, numerous short writing exercises, and two exams.
COURSE
REQUIREMENTS:
Attendance:
Students are
required to come to class prepared to critically discuss readings. This is a small, seminar-style class—your
thoughts and experiences are crucial to discussions. Therefore, attendance is mandatory. More than two unexcused
absences may result in a lower grade.
To excuse an absence, please bring a doctor’s note, jury duty notice, or
similar documentation to the instructor.
Written Exercises:
In this
course, we will use many short exercises to develop students’ writing as a
critical process—a tool for getting more out of readings.
Once a week
(roughly), the instructor will pose a question and students will come to the
next class with 1-2 pages prepared.
Written work should be presentable (good grammar and spelling) because
we will share it in small group discussions.
It may be typed, word-processed, or neatly handwritten.
Exams:
The two exams
each consist of identifications and one or two essay questions. A study guide will be distributed one week
before the exams.
Evaluation:
Each student
will have his or her own file folder; assignments will be returned in class in
these folders. Grades and absences will
be marked in the folder so that students can keep track of how they are doing
in the course.
Students will be evaluated as follows:
Written Exercises 40
points
Exam #1 30 points
Exam #2 30 points
TOTAL: 100 points
REQUIRED READINGS:
Books (available at Food for Thought):
1997 The
Tainted Desert
Course Reader (available at Paradise Copies in
Northampton):
COURSE CALENDAR:
Week 1: Introduction
Week 2: Key Concepts in
Environment and Public Health
Tuesday, 9/11: -Johnston, “Environmental Degradation and Human Rights Abuse” (Johnston)
-Rappoport, “Human Environment and the Notion of Impact” (Johnston)
-Cortese, “Introduction: Human Health, Risk, and the Environment” (reader)
Thursday, 9/13: -Steingraber, “Time” (reader)
Week 3: Political Ecology and the Body: Cancer
Tuesday, 9/18: -Steingraber, “Space” (reader)
Thursday, 9/20: -Balshem, “A Cancer Death” (reader)
Week 4: Political Ecology and the Body: Land Use
Tuesday, 9/25: -Williams,
“Grazing the Body” (reader)
Thursday, 9/27: -Johnston and Jorgensen, “Mineral Rights, Environmental Degradation and Human Rights:
The Ok Tedi Mine in Papua, New Guinea” (Johnston)
Week 5: Political Ecology and the Body: Occupational Health
Tuesday, 10/2: -Quandt,
et al. “Farmworker and Farmer Perceptions of Farmworker Chemical Exposure in
North
Carolina” (reader)
-Johnston
and Button, “Human Environmental Rights Issues and the Multinational
Corporation:
Industrial Development in the Free Trade Zone” (Johnston)
Thursday, 10/4: -Kuletz, Tainted Desert, Introduction
Tuesday, 10/9: -Kuletz, Tainted Desert, Chapter 5
Thursday, 10/11: -Kuletz, Tainted Desert, Chapter 6
Tuesday, 10/16: -Kuletz, Tainted Desert, Chapter 7
Thursday, 10/18: -Kuletz, Tainted Desert, Chapter 8
Tuesday, 10/23: -Kuletz, Tainted Desert, Chapter 9 & Conclusion
Thursday, 10/25: EXAM #1
Week 9: “Disaster” as a Chronic Condition
Tuesday, 10/30: -Stephens, “A Hard Rain for the Sami” (reader)
-Wynne,
“Sheepfarming after Chernobyl” (reader)
Thursday, 11/1: -Rajan, “Bhopal: Vulnerability, Routinization, and Chronic Disaster” (reader)
Week 10: Bodies in Protest
Tuesday, 11/6: -Kroll-Smith and Floyd, Bodies in Protest, Intro, Chapter 1
Thursday, 11/8: -Kroll-Smith and Floyd, Bodies in Protest, Chapter 2
Week 11: Bodies in Protest, continued
Tuesday, 11/13: -Kroll-Smith and Floyd, Bodies in Protest, Chapters 3-4
Thursday, 11/15: -Kroll-Smith and Floyd, Bodies in Protest, Chapter 5
Week 12: Bodies in Protest, continued
Tuesday, 11/20: -Kroll-Smith and Floyd, Bodies in Protest, Chapters 6-7
Thursday, 11/22: THANKSGIVING DAY—no class!
Week 13: The Environmental Justice Movement
Tuesday, 11/27: -Bullard, “Anatomy of Environmental Racism” (reader)
-Miller, et al., “Feminist Politics and Environmental Justice” (reader)
Thursday, 11/29: To be announced
Week 14: Environmental Justice, Science and Citizenship
Tuesday,
12/4: -Checker, “Like Nixon Coming to China” (reader)
Thursday, 12/6: -Irwin, “Freeing
the Voices: Science of the People?” (reader)
Week 15: Science and Citizenship
Tuesday 12/11: -Peace, “Environmental Protest, Bureaucratic Closure: The Politics of Discourse in Rural
Ireland” (reader)
-Irwin, : “Building Sustainable Futures: Science Shops and Social Experiments” (reader)
Thursday 12/13: EXAM
#2
|
Week # |
Date |
Topic |
Assignments DUE |
Readings Completed |
|
1 Thurs |
9/6 |
Introduction |
|
|
|
2 Tues |
9/11 |
Key Concepts in Environment and Public Health |
|
Johnston (r), Rappoport (r), and Cortese (r) |
|
2 Thurs |
9/13 |
Key Concepts in Environment and
Public Health |
|
Steingraber (r) |
|
3 Tues |
9/18 |
Political Ecology and the Body: Cancer |
|
Steingraber (r) |
|
3 Thurs |
9/20 |
Political Ecology and the Body: Cancer |
|
Balshem (r) |
|
4 Tues |
9/25 |
Political Ecology and the Body: Land Use |
|
Williams (r) |
|
4 Thurs |
9/27 |
Political Ecology and the Body: Land Use |
|
Johnston and Jorgensen (r) |
|
5 Tues |
10/2 |
Political Ecology and the Body:
Occupational Health |
|
Quandt (r), Johnston and Button (r) |
|
5 Thurs |
10/4 |
Landscape/Culture/Environment |
|
Kuletz, Introduction |
|
6 Tues |
10/9 |
Landscape/Culture/Environment |
|
Kuletz, Ch. 5 |
|
6 Thurs |
10/11 |
Landscape/Culture/Environment |
|
Kuletz, Ch. 6 |
|
7 Tues |
10/16 |
Landscape/Culture/Environment |
|
Kuletz, Ch. 7 |
|
7 Thurs |
10/18 |
Landscape/Culture/Environment
|
|
Kuletz, Ch. 8 |
|
8 Tues |
10/23 |
Landscape/Culture/Environment |
|
Kuletz, Ch. 9, Conclusion |
|
8 Thurs |
10/25 |
EXAM #2 |
|
|
|
9 Tues |
10/30 |
“Disaster” as a Chronic
Condition: Chernobyl |
|
Stephens (r), Wynne (r) |
|
9 Thurs |
11/1 |
“Disaster” as a Chronic
Condition: Bhopal |
|
Rajan (r) |
|
10 Tues |
11/6 |
Bodies in Protest |
|
Kroll-Smith and Floyd, Intro & Ch. 1 |
|
10 Thurs |
11/8 |
Bodies in Protest |
|
Kroll-Smith and Floyd, Ch. 2 |
|
11 Tues |
11/13 |
Bodies in Protest |
|
Kroll-Smith and Floyd, Ch. 3-4 |
|
11 Thurs |
11/15 |
Bodies in Protest |
|
Kroll-Smith and Floyd, Ch. 5 |
|
12 Tues |
11/20 |
Bodies in Protest |
|
Kroll-Smith and Floyd, Ch. 6-7 |
|
12 Thurs |
11/22 |
THANKSGIVING DAY—no class! |
|
|
|
13 Tues |
11/27 |
The Environmental Justice Movement |
|
Bullard (r), Miller, et al. (r) |
|
13 Thurs |
11/29 |
To be announced |
|
|
|
14 Tues |
12/4 |
“New World Disorders”: Current Research on Environment and Health from the 2001 American Anthropological Association Meetings in DC. |
|
Checker (r) |
|
14 Thurs |
12/6 |
Environmental Justice, Science and Citizenship |
|
Irwin (r) |
|
15
Tues |
12/11 |
Science and Citizenship |
|
Peace (r), Irwin (r) |
|
15 Thurs |
12/13 |
EXAM #2 |
|
|