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 or date 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 these lecture notes 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 30)

2. Development of Ecological Anthropology (Oct 2)

3. Concepts of Adaptation (Oct 5)

4. Adaptation, Cognition, and Culture (Oct 7)

5. Anthropogenic Environments & Non-equilibrium Ecology (Oct 9)

6. Energy Flow, Time Allocation, & Efficiency (Oct 12)

7. Population Ecology & Carrying Capacity (Oct 14 & 16)

8. Life History & Reproductive Strategies (Oct 19)

9. Foraging Systems (Oct 21 & 23)

10. Origins of Agriculture (Oct 26)

11. Swidden & Agricultural Intensification (Oct 28  & Nov 2) (none for Nov 4)

12. Pastoralism (Nov 6)

13. Group Size & Settlement Patterns (Nov 9)

14. Land Tenure (Nov 13)

15. Reciprocity & Risk (Nov 16)

16. Competition & Warfare (Nov 18 & 20)

17. Social Stratification (Nov 23)

18. Niche theory & Cultural Diversity (Nov 30)

19. Ecology of disease & nutrition (Dec 2 & 4)

20. Conservation / Indigenous Resource Management (Dec 7)

21. "Development" & Ecological Crises/Toward Sustainability (Dec 9 & 11)