WUSTL Course Listings Login with WUSTL Key
Search Results: Help Display: Open + Closed     Just Open     Just Closed View: Regular     Condensed     Expanded
1 course found.
ANTHROPOLOGY (L48)  (Dept. Info)Arts & Sciences  (Policies)
L48 Anthro 3148Caring for Country: Hunter-Gatherer Ecologies3.0 Units
Description:What makes humans special? Is it our use of tools? Language? Culture? Humanity has been defined on the basis of its uniquely well-developed capacities for using technology, language, and culturally encoded knowledge and belief systems. In this course, we will explore a new hypothesis of human exceptionalism: a fundamental tendency to cultivate our lands. Our genius for reshaping ecosystems and incorporating other species into our societies is intimately linked to our technological and communicative skills. We have used these skills to migrate into and reshape every Earthly environment. We have been taught that the beginning of agriculture was the greatest turning point in human history because before this revolution, hunter-gatherers were unable to build cities or spend their time creating technology and art. Some argue that the timing of this revolution - early in some places, late in others - has shaped the current distribution of power and resources. Others have retorted that agriculture was actually bad for humankind -- that farmers work harder and are less healthy than hunter-gatherers. Well over a century of ink has been spilled on the differences between these two groups, and the significance of the transition from one state to the other. But what if hunter-gatherers are a myth? What if European colonists invented them as a moral justification to seize new lands? We will explore the ethnographies, oral and written histories, and archaeologies, of so-called hunter-gatherers around the world, learning about the ways they shaped and tended their homelands using ecological knowledge systems. In this era of human induced environmental change - from global warming, to mass extinction, to genetic engineering - it is critically important that we throw away 19th century myths and look to our species' true ecological history for the wisdom that will help us meet these challenges.
Attributes:
Instruction Type:Classroom instruction Grade Options:CPA Fees:
Course Type:HomeSame As:N/AFrequency:Unpredictable / History
Label

Home/Ident

A course may be either a “Home” course or an “Ident” course.

A “Home” course is a course that is created, maintained and “owned” by one academic department (aka the “Home” department). The “Home” department is primarily responsible for the decision making and logistical support for the course and instructor.

An “Ident” course is the exact same course as the “Home” (i.e. same instructor, same class time, etc), but is simply being offered to students through another department for purposes of registering under a different department and course number.

Students should, whenever possible, register for their courses under the department number toward which they intend to count the course. For example, an AFAS major should register for the course "Africa: Peoples and Cultures" under its Ident number, L90 306B, whereas an Anthropology major should register for the same course under its Home number, L48 306B.

Grade Options
C=Credit (letter grade)
P=Pass/Fail
A=Audit
U=Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory
S=Special Audit
Q=ME Q (Medical School)

Please note: not all grade options assigned to a course are available to all students, based on prime school and/or division. Please contact the student support services area in your school or program with questions.


No section found for FL2024.