Anthropology 5400

CULTURE AND THE

ENVIRONMENT IN THE
NEOTROPICS
University of Texas at San Antonio, Fall 2016

LOCATION: MH 3.03.12
TIME: Wednesdays, 9:00-11:45am
INSTRUCTOR: Allison Koch
OFFICE: MH 3.04.17
OFFICE HOURS: Wednesdays, 9-11am or
by appointment
PHONE: (319) 540-4637
EMAIL: Allison.koch@utsa.edu

Course Description
This course will explore culture and ecology in the Neotropicsthe tropical region
stretching from southern Mexico through Amazoniafrom an anthropological
perspective. Students should walk away with an in-depth understanding of how
local social systems and ecologies interact with global social, political, and
economic processes.
Objectives
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:
Write and present to the class compelling arguments regarding culture,
environment, and politics in specific case examples
Discuss as a class local issues of land tenure, ecotourism, and conservation;
relate these to global processes.
Examine issues of gender, race, and marginalization in an environmental
context
Course Texts
We will be reading from a variety of books and articles. The required books are
listed below; additional readings will be posted on BlackBoard.
Borgerhoff Mulder, M. and P. Coppolillo (2005) Conservation: Linking Ecology,
Economics, and Culture. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Cepek, M. (2012) A Future for Amazonia: Randy Borman and Cofn Environmental
Politics. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Descola, P. (1996) In the Society of Nature: A Native Ecology in Amazonia.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Grandia, L. (2012) Conservation, Cattle, and Commerce Among the Q'eqchi' Maya
Lowlanders. University of Washington Press.

Li, T. M. (2007) The Will to Improve: Governmentality, Development, and the

Practice of Politics. Durham: Duke University Press.
Terborgh, J. (2012) Requiem for Nature. Island Press.
Vivanco, L. (2007) Green Encounters: Shaping and Contesting Environmentalism in
Rural Costa Rica. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Course Requirements
Reading Responses: Each week, students are asked to write a 1-page critical
reflection (1.5 spacing, Times New Roman, 1-in margins) on the readings from that
week. This is clearly not much space to capture even most of the arguments, so
students should select one or two arguments from the readings to develop their
own critique. These will be posted on BlackBoard in the discussion section, due at
noon the day prior to class. Students are encouraged to read their classmates
responses, and this can be used to help form class discussion. You must write 6
responses throughout the semester. There are 9 opportunities for reading
responses, so this means that you may elect not to 3 write essays. No drop grades
will be given; if you write it, that is the grade you will receive.
Class Project: You will work individually on a topic of your choosing, with attention to
culture and the environment in the Neotropics. See attached document for further
instructions.
Discussion Leading: Throughout the course, each student must present the readings
and lead class discussion for two class periods. We will sign up for discussion
leading dates on the first day of class. You should come prepared with an outline
with a brief summary for each reading, information about the authors, and
discussion questions.
Attendance and participation: It is required that students attend class and actively
participate in discussion. If you miss class, you will be required to submit a 3-page
critical reflection (1.5 spacing, Times New Roman, 1-in margins) for that weeks
readings.
Course Grades
Final Class Project

40%

Reading Responses

30%

Discussion Leading
Attendance and
Participation

20%
10%

Course Policies
Technology. All cell phones, laptops, Ipads, etc. must be on silent and put away.
Late Work. All work is due at the start of class. In the case of an absence, work will
be due the day after class at noon. Late work will lose 10% for each day that it is
late after this.
Extra Credit. I have plenty of assignments throughout the semester that will give
you opportunities to keep your grade up, so I do not give extra credit.
Academic Integrity. Students are expected to review and adhere to UTSAs
standards of academic honesty. The Student Code of Conduct can be found below. I
have a zero-tolerance policy for a breach in this policy, all work that does so will
earn an automatic 0.
http://catalog.utsa.edu/informationbulletin/appendices/studentcodeofconduct/
Classroom Behavior. To respect our fellow classmates, I expect behavior that fosters
an active learning environment. This includes: being in your seat at the start of
class, staying for the duration of class, keeping all electronics put away, listening to
classmates opinions and responding with respectful comments, encouraging each
other, and knowing when to speak and when to stay quiet. Disrespectful classroom
or social media behavior directed at classmates will not be tolerated. I reserve the
right to ask you to leave class or to take away points for inappropriate behavior.

Course Calendar
READ
Week 1

Introduction to Course

Week 2

Borgerhoff Mulder and Coppolillo (2005)

Week 3

Li, T. M. (2007)

Week 4

Terborgh, J. (2012)

Week 5

BlackBoard: Traditional Ecological Knowledge

1. Conklin, Harold. 1955. Hanuno Color Categories.
Southwestern Journal of Anthropology 11: 339344.
2. Erickson, Clark. 2008. Amazonia: The Historical
Ecology of a Domesticated Landscape. In
Handbook of South American Archaeology,
Silverman and Isbell, eds. New York: Springer.
3. Posey, Darrell. 1985. Indigenous Management of
Tropical Forest Ecosystems: The Case of the
Kayap Indians of the Brazilian Amazon.
Agroforestry Systems 3:139-158.
4. Parker, Eugene. 1992. Forest Islands and Kayap
Management in Amazonia: A Reappraisal of the
Apt. American Anthropologist 94(2): 223-252.
5. Sillitoe, Paul. 1998. The Development of
Indigenous Knowledge: A New Applied
Anthropology. Current Anthropology 39(2): 223252.
6. Drew, Joshua A. 2005. Use of Traditional
Ecological Knowledge in Marine Conservation.
Conservation Biology 19 (4): 128693.
7. Christancho, S. and J. Vining. 2009. Perceived
Intergenerational Differences in the Transmission
of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in Two
Indigenous Groups from Colombia and
Guatemala. Culture & Psychology 15(2): 229-254.

DUE
Reading
Response 1
Reading
Response 2
Reading
Response 3

Reading
Response 4

Week 6

Week 7

BlackBoard: Common Property Regimes

1. Garca Lozano, A. J. and J. T. Heinen. 2016.
Identifying Drivers of Collective Action for the CoManagement of Coastal Marine Fisheries in the
Gulf of Nicoya, Costa Rica.
2. Hardin, Garrett. 1968. The Tragedy of the
Commons. Science 162: 1243-1248.
3. Ostrom, Elinor. 1990. Reflections on the
Commons in Governing the Commons: The
Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action, pp.
1-28. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
4. Stronza, Amanda. 2010. Commons Management
and Ecotourism: Ethnographic Evidence from the
Amazon. International Journal of the Commons
4(1): 56-77.
BlackBoard: Indigenous Politics
1. Cepek, Michael. 2008. Essential Commitments:
Identity and the Politics of Cofn Conservation.
The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean
Anthropology 13(1): 196-222.
2. Conklin, Beth A. and Laura R. Graham. 1995. The
Shifting Middle Ground: Amazonian Indians and
Eco-Politics. American Anthropologist 97(4): 695710.
3. Hames, Raymond. 2007. The Ecologically Noble
Savage Debate. Annual Reviews of Anthropology.
36: 177-190.
4. Johnson, Jay T. and Brian Murton. 2007.
Re/placing Native Science: Indigenous Voices in
Contemporary Constructions of Nature.
Geographical Research 45(2): 121-129.
5. Velsquez Runk, J. (2012) Indigenous Land and
Environmental Conflicts in Panama: Neoliberal
Multiculturalism, Changing Legislation, and
Human Rights. Journal of Latin American
Geography 11(2): 21-47.
6. Viveiros de Castro, Eduardo. 1998. Cosmological
Deixis and Amerindian Perspectivism. The Journal
of the Royal Anthropological Institute 4(3): 469488.
7. Fabricant, N. and N. Postero. 2015. Sacrificing
Indigenous Bodies and Lands: The Political
Economic History of Lowland Bolivia in Light of
the Recent TIPNIS Debate. The Journal of Latin
American and Caribbean Anthropology 20(3):
452-474.

**Problem
Statement

Reading
Response 5

Week 8

BlackBoard: Ecotourism
1. Stronza, Amanda. 2010. Commons Management
and Ecotourism: Ethnographic Evidence from the
Amazon. International Journal of the Commons
4(1): 56-77.
2. Spalding, A. K. 2011 Re-making lives abroad:
Lifestyle migration and socio-environmental
change in Bocas del Toro, Panama. Dissertation:
University of California Santa Cruz. (Chapters 1,
2, and 5 only)
3. Carrier, James G. and Donald V.L. Macleod. 2005.
Bursting the Bubble: The Socio-Cultural Context
of Ecotourism. Journal of the Royal
Anthropological Institute 11: 315-334.

Week 9

Grandia, L. (2012)

Week
10
Week
11

Descola, P. (1996)
Cepek, M. (2012)

**Research
Plan and
Bibliograph
y

Reading
Response 6
Reading
Response 7
Reading
Response 8

Week
12

Week
13

Week
14
Week
15

BlackBoard: Displacement and Marginalization

1. Brockington, Dan and James Igoe. 2006. Eviction
for Conservation: A Global Overview.
Conservation and Society 4(3): 424-470.
2. Burton, A. (2009) Panama's polemic hydroelectric
project. Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment
7(5): 233.
3. Finley-Brook, M. and C. Thomas (2011) Renewable
Energy and Human Rights Violations: Illustrative
Cases from Indigenous Territories in Panama.
Annals of the Association of American
Geographers 101(4): 863-872.
4. Whiteman, G., and K. Mamen (2002) Examining
Justice and Conflict between Mining Companies
and Indigenous Peoples: Cerro Colorado
BlackBoard: Neoliberalism and the Commodification of
Nature
1. Ioris, A. A. R. 2007 The Troubled Waters of Brazil:
Nature Commodification and Social Exclusion.
Capitalism Nature Socialism 18(1): 28-50.
2. Bakker, K. 2010. The limits of 'neoliberal natures':
Debating green neoliberalism. Progress in Human
Geography, 34(6), 715-735.
3. Keulartz, J. 2013 Conservation through
Commodification? Ethics, Policy, & Environment
16(3): 297-307.
4. McAfee, K., and E. N. Shapiro. 2010. Payments for
Ecosystem Services in Mexico: Nature,
Neoliberalism, Social Movements, and the State.
Annals of the Association of American
Geographers 100 (3): 57999.
5. Latorre, S., Farrell, K. N., and J. Martnez-Alier.
2015. The commodification of nature and socioenvironmental resistance in Ecuador: An
inventory of accumulation by dispossession
cases, 19802013. Ecological Economics 116: 5869.
Vivanco, L. (2007)
Potluck, roundtable discussion of final papers.

**Rough
Draft

**Peer
Review

Reading
Response 9
**Final
Paper