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Culture and the Environment

Professor(s)

Professor(s)

Semester

2018 Spring

About This Class

To understand global environmental problems, environmental professionals and lawyers must study how different cultures and societies conceptualize and manage the environment. This interdisciplinary seminar will combine the study of cultural ecology, the cross-cultural study of the interaction of humans and the environment with legal anthropology, and the cross-cultural study of conflict. The first part of the course will examine the archaeological roots of the modern ecological degradation in the development of agriculture, urbanization and industrialization. Then, the course will compare the environmental effects of climate change on societies in history and in modern times. Finally, we will look at the contentious topic of managing "the commons" in different societies. The last part of the course, students will present their own research topics for class discussions. The grade will depend on a substantial research paper, a class presentation of the research topic and class participation.

Satisfies perspective requirement.

Elective for MELP and JD/MELP

Class Code

JUR7307

Subject

Jurisprudence