INDIGENOUS ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE IN ASIA

The course outlines areas and research sectors of Environmental Anthropology focusing, through specific methodologies and a defined theoretical framework, on the understanding of contemporary Asian societies.

Knowledge and understanding:
- knowledge of the mail theoretical bases of Cultural Anthropology and of the salient features of the ethnographic method;

Judgment skills:
- elaborate critical judgments on the environmental and cultural phenomena examined during the course;

Communication skills:
- critically re-elaborate the contents of the program without resorting to purely mnemonic preparation.

Learning ability:
- take notes, summarizing, in a clear way, the main topics covered during the lessons;
- integrate independently the study of different teaching materials;
- independently analyze topics not dealt with during lectures;
- study on texts in English;
- use the online teaching platform.

This course is an elective course offered to students enrolled in the Master Degree in the Environmental Humanities. No prior background in the subject is required.

The course provides an anthropological overview of key themes in Indigenous Environmental Knowledge (IEK) using empirical case studies of relevance for each of these themes, drawn from culturally diverse areas in Asia. It provides an overview of the conceptual issues, while providing ethnographic examples of how Indigenous Environmental Knowledge studies have been implemented to beneficial effect in environmental sustainability and governance schemes. Furthermore the course explores the different interactions between local and scientific knowledge systems, linkages in specific ecosystems and traditional environmental resource management practices and the developmental and political claims rooted in an ideology of ‘traditional’ environmental knowledge.

Joy Hendry, 2014, Science and Sustainability. Learning from Indigenous Wisdom, New York, Palgrave Macmillan.

The exam will consist of a short written paper in English or Italian on a topic agreed with the teacher, to test the methodology and the basic vocabulary in anthropology. The editorial guidelines and the dissertation module can be found in moodle materials.

Lectures, also with the help of power-point.

English

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Natural capital and environmental quality" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development