The Desert as a Place
Environmental Studies 140
Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:15-2:30
Room: Fletcher 106
We say, "We're going into the desert." We seldom say quite where because it does not matter. And besides, everyone knows where we are going. Into the desert.
Charles Bowden, Desierto
|
Instructor: Paul Faulstich Office: Broad Center 214, ext. 18818 Office Hours: Tuesdays 9:00-11:00 |
 Red-Spotted Toad (Bufo punctatus) |
This course provides a multidisciplinary overview of arid environments. Special attention is given to cultural ecology and desert philosophy. We explore human relationships with arid lands, and how these relationships are expressed through various cultural mediums, including art, worldview, and subsistence patterns. From shaded river canyons in the American Southwest to the scorching "Red Center" of Australia, we study desert ecosystems and investigate how human populations explain and express their existential situations in these habitats.
In this course we conduct a major inquiry into the desert 'environment' as a place. Correlations between natural and cultural forms, histories, materials, motives, and adaptations are studied. Topics considered include structural and behavioral adaptations in the natural and cultural ecologies; climate, geomorphology and architectural form, taxonomy, desert flora and fauna and their cultural uses; and various ramifications of the interaction between ecology and consciousness in arid regions. More specifically, thematic materials focus on: 1) Natural History: the physical framework of desert habitats, especially its geology and ecology, but with attention also to geography, meteorology, taxonomy, evolutionary adaptations, and natural history; 2) Place and Shelter: the effects of selective human use, the ecology and aesthetics of shelter, and the relationship of environmental sensibility to subsistence and use; 3) Perception and Natural Philosophy: the history of human thought about deserts; 4) Contemporary Aspects: development and human density in the desert, trends in its status as an 'environment', public land policy, recreation and the limits of desert ecosystems.
Discussions, lectures, films, and field trips guide us toward understandings of arid lands. Our discussions and experiences provide a forum for us to reflect upon our own experiences as participants in desert ecosystems.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Each of you is asked to keep a notebook/journal in which you record class notes, reactions to our readings, sketches, thoughts, poems, interviews, and other materials that you feel are pertinent to our inquiry of the desert as a place.
Also, I ask that in this naturalist's notebook you keep a running list of desert plants, animals, landforms, etc., that you have identified in the field. (The Audubon Field Guide to Deserts will be an important resource for this task.) I would like you to record information relevant to your identification: where you spotted the object or phenomenon, your reactions to it, anything striking or unusual about this particular object or event, comments on form and function, seasonal or diurnal peculiarities, and any other meaningful observations that you can make. The purpose is not simply to list as many identifications as possible, but rather to make insightful observations of desert ecosystems. This assignment is designed to help tone our perceptions of the natural world. (Please note that the Pitzer 'Outback' and Arboretum are good places for some plant and small animal identifications.) Your notebook/journal is to be turned in twice during the semester for review and grading.
The other primary requirement for the course is a final in-class presentation. There is considerable flexibility in topic and presentation format, as long as it fits into our eclectic explorations of desert places. Some ideas include the production of an explicative video, a slide-presentation, designing a desert-appropriate dwelling, creating a significant work of art, writing and presenting an essay or a research paper, documenting an appropriate service project you conducted, and compiling a portfolio of original poems and drawings. Students must identify their chosen topic and mode of presentation no later than Thursday, February 15. It is expected that you will incorporate aspects of our readings and class discussions into your project.
Field trips are a required part of the course, and additional assignments will be based on the trips. Semester evaluations will be based on participation, exam results, your naturalist's notebook, and the final project.
|
Required Texts: Audubon Society Field Guide--Deserts, James McMahan Blue Desert, Charles Bowden Desert Solitaire, Edward Abbey Gathering the Desert, Gary Nabhan The Desert as a Place Reading Packet |
|
Schedule
DATE TOPIC READINGS
Jan. 16 Course Introduction; Desert defined
Global distribution of deserts
Jan. 18 Desert adaptations: Deserts, Part 1
flora & fauna
Jan. 23 Adaptation or reclamation?: Blue Desert, Beasts
the human landscape
Jan. 25 Landscape and place Gathering the Desert, Winter
Jan. 30 Desert consciousness "The Desert Fathers"
Geomorphology
Feb. 1 Deserts and cultures of Blue Desert, Players
the Southwest
Feb. 6 Film: Walkabout at 1:00 Blue Desert, Deserts
Deserts and Western experience
Feb. 8 Desert skills Gathering the Desert, Spring
Feb. 13 Preparations for field trip Desert Solitaire, 'Intro' thru 'Rocks'
Feb. 15 Film: The Baking Desert Desert Solitaire, 'Cowboys' thru DEADLINE FOR PROJECT TOPICS 'The Heat of Noon'
Feb. 16-18 Field trip: low desert
Feb. 20 Reflections on the desert Desert Solitaire, 'Moon-Eyed Horse' thru 'Dead Man'
Feb. 22 Desert cultures: subsistence Desert Solitaire, 'Tukuhnikivats'
Film: Corn is Life thru 'Bedrock & Paradox'
Journals due
Feb. 27 Desert philosophy: "Australian Aborigines and the
the Dreaming Definition of Place"
March 1 Desert identity: "You read 'im This Country"
being Aboriginal "Getting a Living in the Desert"
March 6 Desert arts: past & present "Images on Stone"
Film: Dreamings "Brush and Hammerstone"
March 8 Africa. Film; Bitter Melons "Reading the Ground"
March 13, 15 Spring Break, no class
March 20 Aboriginal art of the desert "Mosaics You Can Move In"
Religion and world view
March 22 Peoples of the American Southwest "The Chaco Phenomenon"
March 27 Field trip preparation Gathering the Desert, Summer
March 29 Petroglyphs of the Pipkin lava flow "The Sky-Watchers of Chaco"
March 30- Field trip: high desert
April 1 Assignment: form & function
April 3 Debriefing
April 5 Film: Canyonlands "Climate and Culture"
April 10 Desert women: marginalizing "The Problem of Women"
people and places "Prisoner of Discourse"
April 12 Deserts and ethics; Las Vegas Gathering the Desert, Fall
Exam review
April 17 Student presentations "The Saguaro" & "The Coyote"
|
April 19 Student presentations April 24 Student presentations Journals due April 26 Student presentations |
 |
May 1 Student presentations
May 3 Deserts and the future. Final exam for seniors
May 9 Final exam, 2:00 p.m.