ITB 233E - Anthropology

Course Objectives

(1) Teaching the complex and dynamic relationships between human societies and their environment throughout the evolutionary history,
(2)Teaching the similarities and disparities in human-environment relationships from the beginning of farming to the Industrial Revolution,
(3)Teaching how Cultural Ecology may shed light on vital issues for both the past and the future human societies.

Course Description

This course will focus on two separate yet complementary aspects of environmental studies within the general framework of anthropology. The first aspect to be covered is the ecological-evolutionary perspective, which correlates to the theme of change and stability in social systems. Consequently, the course will also cover the anthropological methods of research. The second aspect of this course is a historical survey of how human-environment relationships evolved through time, in terms of the use of natural resources, socio-political development, the emergence of resource management methods and techniques, and the sustainability of cultural practices of resource exploitation.