ENST312

This course surveys diverse ways of living on the earth. Students will be introduced to the major patterns of human adaptation: foraging, pastoralist, and agriculturalist. These adaptations however, will be investigated in terms of the complex interactions of cultural values, social organizations, and varying definitions of resources. Starting with an examination of conceptualization of frameworks utilized in studies of human/environmental interactions: nature and its relationship to culture; patterns of production, reproduction, and consumption; the significance of beliefs and behaviors associated with religion and gender; local knowledge versus universal knowledge; and issues of development, progress, and power. This course will focus on regional case studies including: the impact and adaptation to industrial contamination of a local indigenous population, as well as the lasting influence of academic bias in respect to the native population; the regentrification of the rural community by suburban sprawl; and the emergence of an ethics of commodity with the 'malling of America'.