Environmental Anthropology

Learning outcomes

Knowledge:
¿ Knowledge of environmental issues and anthropological approaches to studying these
¿ Understanding of the nature of environmental threats
¿ Understanding of people's knowledge, attitudes, and feelings regarding nature
¿ Understanding conflicts between different user-groups as well as between user-groups and environmental interests, both locally and globally
¿ Knowledge of the multitude of existing discourses of nature
Skills:
¿ The ability to critically analyse arguments and statements
¿ The ability to set forward theoretical arguments based on case studies
¿ Present a scientific argument in a written paper

Competencies:
¿ Achieve independent academic thought
¿ The ability to express arguments both verbally and in the written form

This course requires good knowledge of English.

SOSANT1000 - Innføring i sosialantropologi - Introduction to Social Anthropology is a prerequisite for this course.

The prerequisite does not apply to students from Utviklingstudier or Utvikling og Miljø at University of Oslo. Please send an email to [email protected] if you have trouble signing up for the course in the Studentweb.

For international exchange students the prerequisite is a course equivalent to SOSANT1000 or 30 ECTS credits (one semester) of university level courses in social sciences. You may apply for admission to SOSANT2510 by sending an email to [email protected]. Please attach the required documentation.

Students at UiO must apply for courses in StudentWeb.

International applicants, if you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about admission requirements and procedures for international applicants.

Admission to this course is done on the basis of specific rules.

You may apply to sit for the exam in this course as a external candidate.

This course will be taught at The University of Oslo, Blindern campus.

The course is part of the regular course provision at The Faculty of Social Science. Teaching is mainly held during daytime. Detailed course-information is found on the Webpage for the current semester.

The teaching is not compulsory, though it is highly recommended to participate.

Four hour school exam.

• Previous exams and examiner guidelines.

No examination support material is allowed.

You can usually resit an exam, but the conditions depend on whether you had a valid reason for absence from the regular exam. Read more about resitting an exam.

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

The grades will be registered in the StudentWeb.

The exam questions are in English and must be answered in English.

Other

The information presented here is subject to change.

You may request an explanation of your grades, and you may also appeal against your grades or make a complaint about formal examination errors. Read more about explanations and appeals.

Evaluation

Feedback from our students is essential to us in our efforts to ensure and further improve the high quality of our programmes and courses. All courses are subject to continuous evaluation. At regular intervals we also ask students on a particular course to participate in a more comprehensive, periodic evaluation of this course.

SOSANT2510 Environmental Anthropology

Required books can be purchased from online bookstore such as amazon.com and Abebooks.com. Required books are also available at the bookstore Akademika and the University Library.

Articles in readers are available at the "kopiutsalg"-desk, groundfloor Akademika. Remember to bring your semester-card.

Required books

@ Adams, William: Against extinction: the story of conservation, 2004. London: Earthscan (311 pages)

@ Dove, Michael & Carol Carpenter (eds.): Environmental Anthropology: A Historical Reader, 2008. Oxford: Blackwell.

@ West, Paige: Conservation is our government now: the politics of ecology in Papua New Guinea, 2006, Duke UP (352 pages)

Articles in readers / compendium

Crate, Susan A.: "Gone the Bull of Winter? Grappling with the Cultural Implications of and Anthropology’s Role(s) in Global Climate Change" in Current Anthropology, Vol. 49, No. 4, 2008. 569-595 (27 pages).

Feeny, David, Fikret Berkes, Bonnie J. McCay & James M. Acheson: "The tragedy of the commons: Twenty-two years later" in Human Ecology, Vol. 18, No. 1, 1990. Pages 1-19 (19 pages).

Nuttall, Mark: "Living in a world of movement: Human resilience to environmental instability in Greenland" in Crate, Susan A. & Mark Nuttall (eds.): Anthropology and Climate Change: From Encounters to Actions, 2009. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Pages 292-310 (19 pages).

Online articles

Conklin, Beth A. and Laura R. Graham (1995): “The Shifting Middle Ground: Amazonian Indians and Eco-Politics” in American Anthropologist 97(4):695-710 (16 pages). wileyonlinelibrary.com

Hardin, Garrett (1968): "The tragedy of the Commons" in Science, 162 (3859). Pages 1243-1248 (6 pages). jstor.org

Ingold, Tim (2011): “The shape of the earth” in Tim Ingold: <em

If you have a disability or a health problem that entails significant inconvenience in an examination situation, you may be considered for special examination arrangements. Mothers who are breastfeeding may apply for extra time to complete the exam.

A student may sit this exam up to 3 times. If a student wishes to withdraw from the exam, s/he must do so in StudentWeb at least two weeks prior to the first day of the exam. Failure to do so will be counted as one of the three opportunities to sit the exam.