Course Description
Critical examination of concepts relevant to an ecological analysis of the formation, maintenance, and change of human social groups, considering in turn cultural, biocultural, structural, and neo-Marxist perspectives.
Athena Title
COMP HUM ECO SYS
Prerequisite
ANTH 6490 or permission of department
Semester Course Offered
Offered every year.
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
I. Attain critical understanding of issues and concepts relevant to the ecological analysis of the formation, maintenance and change of human social groups. II. Understanding the linkage between actors operating within culture and the influence culture has on actors. III. Conversance with the strengths and limitations of contemporary approaches and the potential for future development of the area.
Topical Outline
I. Epistemological foundations A. Defining structure and culture: monistic and dualistic modes of explanation B. The functionalist paradigm and the concept of adaptation C. The nature of causality in base/superstructure models D. Levels of analysis and emergent properties E. Structure and event. II. The elements of human social group formation in ecological perspective A. Resources and work: optimal foraging, dietary intake, time allocation B. Reproduction and relations: mating strategies, parenting conflicts, sharing, collective action, conflict C. The concept of the corporation and the constitution of corporate groups D. Spatial organization: resources, ethnicity, commons, territoriality III. Social production and reproduction: structural Marxist perspectives A. The domestic and political domains B. The meanings of social and cultural reproduction C. "Vulgar materialism" or the structural Marxist critique of cultural ecology D. Social organization as mode of production E. The significance of exchange: marriage, goods and materials, information IV. Four contemporary populations A. Foragers and the creation of multiple-use parks B. Pastoralists: the response to drought-uncertainty C. Agriculturalists and the dwindling of tropical rain forests D. Industrial society and the limits of human endeavor