Worldview and Natural History
Environmental Studies 179
Tuesdays 9:00-11:50
Broad Hall 214
Instructor: Paul Faulstich
Office: Broad 214, ext. 18818
Office Hours: Wednesdays 9:00-11:00, and by appointment.
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The mind is a
part of the nature of things; the world is
a divine dream. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature |
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INTRODUCTION TO THE SEMINAR: PURPOSE AND CONTENT
This seminar strives to increase understanding of how worldviews are situated in the landscape, and how indigenous cosmologies function as storehouses of critical knowledge of the natural world. Students will engage in substantive, collaborative research on this topic. Areas of focus include the ecology of expressive culture, symbolic systems, traditional ecological knowledge, Aboriginal Australia, and southern Africa (Botswana).
Worldview and Natural History is designed to engage students in the research process. Throughout the semester I will be engaged in my own research on indigenous worldviews and their relationships to understandings of the natural world. While my research will focus on Australian Aboriginal cosmologies and how they articulate with perceptions of the natural environment, students will have the opportunity to research cosmologies of divers indigenous groups. At the heart of our research and seminar will be an exploration of creation stories and how they inform and explain cultural understanding of the more-than-human world.
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All traditional societies that have managed resources well over time, including Australian Aboriginals, have done so in part through religion – by the use of cultural symbols (i.e., worldviews) that reinforce particular resource management strategies. Moreover, these religious beliefs, while seeming unscientific, if not irrational at first glance, are based on long and careful observation of nature. Worldviews, thus, are significant components of the pedagogy of place. Numerous anthropologists have overlooked the ecological dimension of cosmologies or worldviews, while writing at length about native understandings of supernatural" entities. We can attribute much of this oversight to the modern assumption that the natural world is largely determinate and mechanical, and |
This seminar provides a forum through which we can investigate the ecological priorities and concepts of various peoples as illuminated through belief systems. We critically assess nostalgic theories of romantic primitivism, and attempt to understand human perceptions of nature through rigorous exploration of cognitive, expressive culture. Worldview and Natural History will endeavor to increase our understanding and appreciation of the significance of environmental concerns among diverse peoples. In it, we explore how the physical world is the backdrop for expressive culture that relates to the interface between humans and nature.
Nature of the Research
Over the course of the semester, my own research will focus on Warlpiri Aboriginal attitudes toward nature, as expressed through conceptions, uses, and manipulations of the land. As students, your research will articulate with this, but you will be asked to research other cultural traditions so that we can compare and contrast diverse explanations of “natural history.”
Natural history integrates keen observation of
the natural world with an acknowledgement -- indeed an affirmation -- that
humans are sentient beings. Hence, it mixes the scientific perspective with
elegant, heart-felt and intelligent responses to science. Natural history is the integrated study of
the relationships between the biological, the physical, and the sensual
(personal). It combines the social
sciences and humanities with ecology, and entails a breaking down of the
normative barriers between the scientific and the poetic. It blends tradition with innovation and
engages us in informed discussions of conservation efforts to reveal useful
approaches to our environmental crises.
Natural history personalizes science and enlivens it with meaning; a
naturalist is one who has the eyes of a scientist and the vision of a poet; one
who confronts evocative ideas, and is respectful of both facts and mysteries.
In its broadest sense, natural history includes people, and those aspects of culture that relate to environmental concerns directly (such as resource exploitation) and indirectly (for example, totemic proscriptions). Thus, traditional ecological knowledge affects subsistence, adaptation, cosmology, and aesthetics, and these things in turn affect the knowledge base. By taking an ecological approach to the study of worldviews, we can gain greater understanding of critical interactions between humans and the natural world.
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Topics to be Covered
There are many ecologists who write of nature, treating it as an object separate from the world of people. In this seminar we collaborate and challenge ourselves to write in nature, finding elemental aspects of human existence in the life of the wild.
Questions to be explored include: What is natural history? How do myths relate to scientific understandings? What is the relationship between traditional ecological knowledge and native resource management? What is the relationship between worldview and environmental perception? Topics include: Indigenous environmental literacy, ecological identities, personhood, worldview and ethics, ecological restoration and management, the ecology of expressive culture, nature and human consciousness, and landscape, art and symbolism.
In this seminar we study beliefs about the relationship between humans and the natural environment as expressed through worldviews, and we explore where these cultural systems of knowing intersect and diverge. We seek insight into how aspects of cultural ecology are expressed through belief systems, and investigate the intersection between the external world and cultural constructions of that world. We will, essentially, strive to understand the mechanisms through which the world makes cultural sense.
The seminar also mixes anthropology with ecology, and traditional myth and folklore with informed discussions of conservation efforts in industrial societies. While my own research remains largely field-based, Worldviews and Natural History will engage students in the process of transforming raw fieldnotes into theoretical perspectives that can then be further explicated through library research.
Traditional ecological knowledge is being lost rapidly as elders die and their cultures undergo tremendous change. Recording, understanding, and appreciating this knowledge are thus urgent matters. To interpret traditional ecological knowledge with care and in the interest of its possessors is one goal of the seminar. It seeks, through its inquiry into worldviews, to illuminate diverse cultural interactions with nature, thereby giving us greater appreciation of the depth and scope of knowledge systems as they relate to the natural environment. Hence, this project will be of value to those students, elders, scholars, and others who are concerned with cultural rights and the utilization of traditional ecological knowledge.
Also, throughout the course of the semester, Pitzer will be conducting a search for a new faculty member in Environmental Studies, with a focus on natural history. This seminar will offer students an exciting opportunity to relate ongoing research to Pitzer’s curricular needs, since you will be asked to attend all research talks related to the search.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Worldview and Natural History is linked to an exciting grant from the Mellon Foundation, focusing on “Intercultural Learning Through Technology.” As a component of this grant, I traveled to southern Africa over the summer, partnering with colleagues at the University of Botswana, and visiting indigenous communities and a variety of rock-art sites that graphically portray mythologies and ecological understandings.
Fundamental to the project will be our email exchanges with scholars and students in Botswana. These ‘conversations’ will need to be extensive in order for collaborative learning to unfold in meaningful ways. Additionally, an interactive website will be cooperatively developed, in which students and others will collect, organize, and refine digital material and share it with each other and the world. Students will be responsible for researching telecommunication links that will make the website more interactive and informative. This will not only reinforce your knowledge about our subject, but will develop your intercultural, technological, organizational, and visual skills. Live chats, on-line surveys and exams, photography, and videoconferencing are the technologies to be employed for the project. Other technologies may be identified as the project develops.
By its very nature, the project requires students to critically examine the ethics of research, the uses of technology, and the inequities in access to and control of such technologies. We will critically reflect on our project and its implications for these issues; our learning will not only be rooted in readings and assignments, but also on the way that we ourselves explore this topic.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
As a seminar, this course requires the engaged participation of each student. The course combines discussions and student presentations with collaborative work on interactive technologies and independent research. Our discussions of the readings will be intensive, and it is expected that students will have carefully read the material and formulated meaningful comments and discussion questions based on it.
There will be one mid-term assessment, in which I will ask you to demonstrate your knowledge of the course material, to present original insights, and to have made appropriate input into the website. There will be no final exam, but an in-depth concluding project/presentation is required. Projects will be individually designed by students, but in collaboration with me. The projects will allow you to explore and develop areas of personal interest. All final projects must include an extensive, well-documented research paper, as well as substantive contribution to the website. Semester evaluations will be based on participation, assignments, and the final project and paper.
| Required Texts: |
Sacred Ecology, Fikret Berkes Wisdom Sits in Places, Keith Basso Dingo Makes us Human, Deborah Bird Rose Coming Home to the Pleistocene, Paul Shepard |
In addition to the books listed above, students will be asked to choose readings identified through their own research, report on these critically in the seminar, and incorporate them into their research.
Schedule
| DATE | TOPIC | READINGS |
| Sept. 4 |
Introduction to the Course What is Worldview? What is Natural History? |
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| Sept. 11 |
Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Resource Management Introduction to Course Technology Communication Between Cultures |
Sacred Ecology: Part I Coming Home: Chs. I-II Listening to the Land: pp. 1-23 "Intercultural Communication" |
| Sept. 18 |
Ecology, Cosmology, and Symbolism Totemic Ecology The Social Construction of Knowledge research proposal due |
Dingo Makes us Human: pp. 1-105 Listening to the Land: pp. 24-52 |
| Sept. 25 |
Ecological Patterns and Conservation Practices |
Sacred Ecology: Part II Coming Home: Chs. III-IV |
| Oct. 2 |
Australian Aboriginal Worldview as Natural History Technology Workshop research notes due |
Dingo Makes us Human: pp. 106-202 Listening to the Land: pp. 53-98 |
| Oct. 9 |
Myths of Nature Religious Representation Elder Brother's Warning |
Ecologies of the Heart: Chs. 1-4 Listening to the Land: pp. 99-121 Dingo Makes us Human: pp. 203-235 |
| Oct. 16 |
Native Ecologies: Successes and Failures The Gathering and Hunting Context, Technology Workshop |
Ecologies of the Heart: Chs. 5-7 Coming Home: Ch. V |
| Oct. 23 | Fall Break, no class | |
| Oct. 30 |
Ethnoecological Research: Concepts and Methods The Place of Stories Technology Workshop |
Wisdom Sits in Places:
Chs. 1 & 2 Listening to the Land: pp.142 –172 |
| Nov. 6 |
Humans & Landscapes
Biophilia Runa: Guardians of the Forest |
Wisdom Sits in Places:
Chs. 3 & 4 Listening to the Land: pp. 173-221 |
| Nov. 13 |
Ethnoecology as Environmental Ethic Hopi: Songs of the Fourth World |
Ecologies of the Heart: Chs. 8-10 Coming Home: Ch. VIII |
| Nov. 20 |
Political Ecology and Indigenous Knowledge Web Page Construction teoretical prospectus due |
Sacred Ecology:
Part III Ecologies of the Heart: Ch. 11 |
| Nov. 27 |
The Ecology of Expressive Culture The Implosion of Experience Web Page Construction |
Coming Home: Chs. VI-VII Listening to the Land: pp. 222-272 |
| Dec. 4 |
Integrating Ecologies: Solution or Dilemma? Wrap-up and Review |
Coming Home: Ch. IX Listening to the Land: pp. 273-326 |
| Dec. 10 | final research report due | |
| Dec. 11 | Worldview and Natural History Conference |
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Environmental
Studies 179: Worldview and Natural History
FALL 2001
Assignment
Schedule
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Electronic Posting of Research Proposal and Ethics Statement; 9/17 |
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RESEARCH PROPOSAL AND STATEMENT ON
RESEARCH STRATEGIES AND ETHICS
I.
Choosing a Research Topic
There are two goals for this assignment. The first is to think carefully about and select a research topic, doing your own explorations and background research. Second, prepare a rationale for your selection. This rationale need be only one or two paragraphs, but use it to explain what the intellectual problem is in this project. Please consider the criteria listed below in choosing your topic and in describing your choice.
Some criteria for selecting a topic:
1) Is the topic interesting to you? Will you enjoy and/or be challenged by intensive research into it during the course of the semester? Are there things you do not know about it that you want to know?
2) Is it at least somewhat unfamiliar to you?--i.e., is the topic somehow culturally different?
3) Is the topic accessible enough? In other words, will you be able to gather ample data on the topic in a very limited period of time?
4) Will you be able to do a variety of types of research on your topic: library research, and web-based work, for example. Can you participate in any participant observation? Will you have access to documents and information? Can you conduct any interviews, either in person or via email? Are visual or audio recordings available?
5) Is your topic of limited enough scope to enable you to complete a detailed project on it in the duration of the semester?
Note: Information needed for your rationale paragraph:
No research topic meets all of the above criteria exactly. You may well have personal interests or other reasons for wanting a particular topic that sacrifice some of these criteria for others. Explain this in your rationale. Account for how you weighed all these factors (or others) in arriving at your topic selection. Show evidence that you can work on this topic (e.g., prior experience, actual visits, phone calls, etc.) Most importantly, be sure to frame your choice of this research topic in terms of the intellectual problem that you are interested in investigating this semester.
II. Research
Strategies
Give thought to the way that you will approach this project. Think logistically: how will you gather data? Will you be able to work with any consultants? If so, what will people know about your project? Will you have access to multiple interviewees who may be relevant to your research topic? While some of the research strategies will be developed over the course of the semester; you should think about some basic ‘how’ questions related to doing this research on your chosen topic.
III. Ethical Statement
Are there any serious ethical questions to be resolved before beginning this project? As part of your rationale, address the appropriate ethical issues (developed more fully below): consultants' rights and protection; confidentiality; the use of selective and ‘appropriate’ disclosure; the ethical, moral, and legal perceptions of those you are studying; the need to seek outside advice; the ethics of your methodology.
Important ethical issue in ethnographic research:
1) Harm to participants: Have you minimized harm to participants, including not only physical harm but subjecting people to undue fear, anger, or stress, or inducing them to perform reprehensible acts, or undermining their self-esteem? What kinds of precautions have been taken to keep risk at a minimum? Does your study involve particularly vulnerable subjects who may require special consideration in terms of mitigating risks?
2) Informed Consent: Have you informed your subjects about the nature of your study?
3) Privacy: Have you provided for the anonymity of your subjects? What measures have you taken to ensure confidentiality (e.g., use of pseudonyms, disguise of locale, etc.)?
4) Impact: How will your research affect your subjects? Does your work have applicability? Will it promote positive change? Is it collaborative? Action-oriented?
Each student in ENVS 179 should distribute
this proposal electronically to all others in the class by Monday, September
17. Bring a full set of research proposals (with your marginal comments) to
class on Tuesday, September 18 for discussion.
Environmental Studies 179: Worldview and Natural History FALL 2001
RESEARCH NOTES
Your task is to write research notes based on your research thus far. There is no required length for each set of fieldnotes, although you should aim for as much inclusiveness and detailed ‘thick description’ as possible. Crafting research notes falls somewhere between the impossibility of writing down ‘everything’ and the undesirability of writing down ‘nothing’.
One goal of the exercise is to practice writing up three kinds of notes: 1) something you directly observed; 2) something you did not observe but which was told to you, or you read about; and 3) something about your topic which you have inferred (i.e., you neither directly observed it nor researched it). This could be three aspects of the same broad ‘issues’, or three different issues.
Another goal of the exercise is to practice taking raw research notes, and then writing up extended notes later. You should go through the process of transforming your raw notes into more developed fieldnotes.
Finally, your notes should include some ‘researcher comments’ that are clearly demarcated (e.g., in parentheses) in your raw notes. Researcher comments record your reactions to and feelings the material you are studying. More specific variations include a) TN: theoretical notes, or interpretations and/or tentative explanations or hypotheses; and b) MN: methodological notes, or comments on your own impact on the setting, notes about what to look into next time, etc.
This set of research notes should be distributed via email by September 29, and due in class for discussion on October 2.
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THEORETICAL PROSPECTUS
This is a short assignment in which you should address the question with which you originally started this project; what is the intellectual problem driving this research? Now, as the research reaches an end (albeit an unnatural one, dictated by the end of the semester), it is your task to develop the theoretical context in which your study should be placed.
In a single page, draft a statement that highlights the broader significance of your study. Place your work within a specific theoretical tradition or, in the tradition of grounded theory, explain the concepts that have emerged from your research that have more generalized significance for students of Cultural Studies.
Due in
class on November 20. Please come
prepared to discuss your prospectus.
Environmental Studies 179: Worldview and Natural History FALL 2001
FINAL ETHNOGRAPHIC REPORT
The research report is due by 5 p.m., Monday, December 10, posted on the course website. It should formally incorporate all additional materials (e.g., documents) and assignments (e.g., theoretical prospectus). Most importantly, your final report should focus on the topics, problems, or research questions that have been generated by your own study.
There are many models for writing up an ethnographic report, a number of which will be discussed in class. The following outline is one example you might follow, although it is not a required format. (Please note, however, that all final reports should include an ‘Afterword’.) Regardless of the format you choose, all final reports should be titled and should include subheadings, which serve to guide the reader through the argument.
1) Introduction: What are the goals of your report? What questions are you raising about this topic? How did you arrive at these questions or foci? Why are they important for this topic, for you, and for the reader? What are your biases? What are the limitations of your research?
2) Site description and explanation of methodology: Include materials on your role and the evolution of your knowledge about the topic, as well. What methods did you principally employ, and why? How was your experience a source of knowledge?
3) Presentation of your results: Use a variety of data sources: research notes, interviews, and other observational data. Use quantitative data where appropriate. Refer to your research questions; how would you now answer them?
4) Discussion of results: What is the significance of these findings? How might you now rephrase your questions, or ask new ones as a result of this study? What would you want to do next, if you were to continue working on these problems? What would you want to do differently next time, if you could start over? Does your research have applicability?
5) Afterword: As a separate section or appendix, comment on your own experience in conducting this research (e.g., what were the key hurdles, surprises, problems, and/or unanticipated pleasures of the research process?). This is your chance to reflect on the methodology of ethnographic research. What did you learn in the process that would be of help to other anthropologists or environmental researchers? How did your experience change your perspective? How has your work impacted your research topic or subjects?
Most reports (descriptively, not prescriptively) should be 10+ pages long. You generally need to be selective in choosing a focus for the final report. Choose to tell a story with a point or conclusion (however preliminary) to it, rather than try to summarize all of your research