Environmental Anthropology

Catalog description

This course is an overview of cultural anthropological approaches to the complex relationship between environment and society. It introduces students to key concepts in social studies of the environment, such as contamination, embodiment, perspectivism, dispossession, and structural violence. The course focuses on developing theoretical and methodological resources for analyzing contemporary environmental issues through a cross-cultural perspective, including: plantation agriculture, epigenetics, nuclear fallout, climate change, and invasive species management. Students will acquire the research skills to trace links between issues like industrial pesticide use and diet culture; oil spills and colonialism; access to clean water and urbanization. From fossil fuels to animal rights, this course explores how contemporary environmental dilemmas related to consumption, production, and destruction play out in our everyday lives, and asks: can we do anything about it?