The Politics of Nature
ANTH 397
Fall 2011
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
SISP 397 |
This seminar explores the ways in which imaginations of nature-culture anchor particular regimes of living and power. Our larger query will concern ontology and cosmology--the worlds and worldviews we inhabit--and what happens when there is basic disagreement as to what "nature" is. For example, do rocks, mountains, and glaciers "listen" as some indigenous peoples claim? Or are these claims a matter of cultural belief? Conversely, how do scientists listen to and relate to their natural objects? What social, historical, and intellectual practices make their visions of nature? And why do some visions appear more "real" than others? What circumstances decide? We will read across histories of science, philosophy, anthropology, postcolonial studies, cultural studies, and feminist science studies to probe the politics, meanings, and materialities of "nature" and the "natural" in a variety of contexts, from natural history in the 18th and 19th centuries to current struggles over the management of natural resources and bioprospecting initiatives. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Intercultural Literacy, Interpretation
Students read interdisciplinarily and comparatively across cultures and historical periods.
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
SBS ANTH |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (ENVS) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
ROSE, Reports from a Wild Country: Ethics for Decolonisation, ISBN 0868407984.
HAYDEN, When Nature Goes Public: The Making And Unmaking Of Bioprospecting In Mexico. ISBN 9780691095578.
Other readings include Donna Haraway, Bruno Latour, Lorraine Daston, Anna Tsing, Tim Ingold, Michael Taussig, Viveiros de Castro, Charis Cussins, and Stephen Helmreich, among others.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly reading responses, a midterm essay and a final project that can be a research paper, an ethnographic project or a creative writing or performance/art installation piece combined with a rigorous learning analysis. |
| Instructor(s): Goslinga,Gillian Times: ....R.. 01:10PM-04:00PM; Location: SCIE137; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 20 | | SR major: 7 | JR major: 6 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 4 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: X | FR: X |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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