ANTH 457 Lecture Notes

This page links to lecture notes written by the instructor for this course. These notes are posted here so you can read them before the class session on that topic. Most topics listed on the syllabus have one associated lecture note each, but in a few cases a lecture note spans two class sessions (as noted below). To determine which lecture note to read for a given class session, just use the syllabus to determine the topic for that date. Thus, on the syllabus there's a lecture entitled "Development of ecological anthropology" listed for second class session; find that title on the list below, and click on it to get to the corresponding lecture notes. I will do my very best to post the notes for a given topic 48 hours in advance of that session, but since I want these to be fresh and up to date I will be revising my notes as we go along and will not usually be ahead of that deadline.

Note: You have my permission to make one electronic copy of each file, and to print out one copy of each file, but they are my own original creations and should be treated as any other copyrighted source (including citation and quotation when used in class assignments or elsewhere).


Lecture Topics (and corresponding class date):

1. Introduction to the Course (Sep 26)

2. Development of Ecological Anthropology (Sep 28)

3. Concepts of Adaptation (Oct 1)

4. Adaptation, Cognition, and Culture (Oct 3)

5. Anthropogenic Environments & Non-equilibrium Ecology (Oct 5)

6. Energy Flow, Time Allocation, & Efficiency (Oct 8)

7. Population Ecology & Carrying Capacity (Oct 10 & 12)

8. Life History & Reproductive Strategies (Oct 15)

9. Foraging Systems (Oct 17 & 19)

10. Origins of Agriculture (Oct 22)

11. Swidden & Agricultural Intensification (Oct 24  & 26) (none for Oct 29)

12. Pastoralism (Oct 31)

13. Group Size & Settlement Patterns (Nov 2)

14. Land Tenure (Nov 5)

15. Reciprocity & Risk (Nov 7)

16. Competition & Warfare (Nov 9 & 14)

17. Social Stratification (Nov 16)

18. Niche theory & Cultural Diversity (Nov 19)

19. Ecology of disease & nutrition (Nov 21 & 26)

20. Conservation (Dec 3)

21. "Development" & Ecological Crises/Toward Sustainability (Dec 5 & 7)