2013-14 Undergraduate Index A-Z | The Evergreen State College

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Anthropology [clear]

As a multidisciplinary study of humans present and past, anthropology finds its way into many Evergreen programs. You will find opportunities to think deeply about our contemporary ways of life and to consider the pre-modern and non-industrial human experience. Anthropology faculty offer instruction and guidance to do ethnographic fieldwork: approaches to listening, observing, documenting, and reflecting that will enable you to engage meaningfully with people and topics that matter to their communities. Evergreen programs combine the study of anthropology with history, psychology, sociology, literature, religion and biology in integrated and contemporarily relevant ways.

Title	Offering	Standing	Credits	Credits	When	F	W	S	Su	Description	Faculty	Days	Multiple Standings	Start Quarters	Open Quarters
Animal Behavior and Zoology Heather Heying anthropology biology natural history philosophy of science study abroad zoology Signature Required: Winter	Program	JR–SRJunior–Senior	16	16	Day		W 14Winter	S 14Spring		What do animals do, how do they do it and why? In this two-quarter-long investigation of animal behavior, a continuation of Genes and Evolution in fall quarter, students will answer these questions through extensive use of the scientific literature, in-depth discussions of the evolutionary and ecological theories fundamental to the study of behavior, independent research projects and several weeks in the field, including a multi-week trip to tropical ecosystems in Ecuador.Animals hibernate, forage, mate, form social groups, compete, communicate, care for their young and so much more. They do so with the tools of their physiology, anatomy, and, in some cases, culture, for reasons having to do with their particular ecology and evolutionary history. In this program, we will begin with a review of animal diversity, and continue our studies of behavior from both a theoretical and an empirical perspective. Students will be expected to engage some of the complex and often contradictory scientific predictions and results that have been generated in this field through lectures, workshops and take-home exams, as well as undertake their own, intensive field research. Some topics covered in this program will include mating systems, territoriality, female mate choice, competition, communication, parental care, game theory, plant/animal interactions and convergent evolution. Several readings will focus on one group of animals in particular: the primates, including Continuing the focus on theory and statistics begun in Genes and Evolution, we will travel to Ecuador to study the differences and similarities between the neotropics and the Pacific Northwest, focusing on the animals and their behavior. Particular attention will be paid to the herpetofauna (amphibians and reptiles) that live in lowland rainforests. In spring quarter, having studied the methods, statistics and literature frequently used in behavioral research, students will generate their own hypotheses and go into the field to test them through extensive, independent field research. This work might be in Ecuador or the Pacific Northwest. Students will return to campus for the last two weeks of spring quarter to complete their data analysis and present their research.	Heather Heying		Junior JR Senior SR	Winter	Winter
Anthrozoology Michael Paros anthropology biology philosophy of science physiology psychology zoology Signature Required: Winter	Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	16	16	Day		W 14Winter			Why do humans keep pets and at the same time raise animals for food? What are the psychological and moral complexities that characterize our relationships with animals? What is the impact of human–animal interactions on the health and well-being of people and animals? How do we assess the relative welfare of animals under a variety of circumstances? Anthrozoology is the interdisciplinary study of human (anthro) and animal (zoo) interaction. This topic of inquiry will be used to study general biology, zoology, anthropology and philosophy. Through field trips, guest speakers, reading, writing and discussion, students will become familiar with the multiple and often paradoxical ways we relate to companion animals, animals for sport, zoo animals, wildlife, research animals and food animals. We will use our collective experiences, along with science-based and value-based approaches, to critically examine the ever-changing role of animals in society.We will begin the quarter by focusing on the process of animal domestication in different cultures from an evolutionary and historical perspective. Through the formal study of animal ethics, students will also become familiar with different philosophical positions on the use of animals. Physiology and neuroscience will be used to investigate the physical and mental lives of animals while simultaneously exploring domestic animal behavior. Students will explore the biological basis and psychological aspects of the human-animal bond. Students will then study the science of animal welfare and complete a final project in which they will apply their scientific and ethical knowledge to a controversial and contemporary animal welfare question.Students will be expected to read primary literature in such diverse fields as animal science, ethology, neurobiology, sociobiology, anthropology and philosophy. Student success in this program will depend on commitment to in-depth understanding of complex topics and an ability to combine empirical knowledge and philosophical reflection.	Michael Paros		Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Winter	Winter
Conquest East, Conquest West: Comparative "Manifest Destinies" Thomas Rainey and John Baldridge anthropology cultural studies ecology geography history political economy	Program	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	8	08	Evening and Weekend		W 14Winter	S 14Spring		This interdisciplinary program offers comparative study of the Russian conquest of northern Eurasia (Siberia) and the Euro-American conquest of North America. It will explore the impact of what environmental historian Alfred Crosby calls "ecological imperialism" on native populations, economic development of the nations based on the exploitation of natural and agricultural resources, the ecological consequences of this exploitation, and the successes and failures of conservation efforts in Russia east of the Urals and in the United States west of the Mississippi. It will also consider the religious, economic, and social motivations and apologias for the ecological conquests. During the winter quarter, the program will examine these two world historical examples of ecological expansion and its consequences from 1600-1900; during the spring quarter, the program will explore the course and legacy of these conquests in the twentieth century as well as the current ecological state of these two continent-wide environments. Students can expect to read and write about bio-geographical, environmental-historical, ethnographic, natural historical, demographic, and political economic texts focusing on the western United States and on northern Eurasia. Personal and fictional accounts as well as films will also be used to enhance understanding of the environmental, economic, and social consequences of conquest. During the spring quarter, students can also expect to research and write short environmental histories of local areas in Western Washington. Credit will largely be in environmental history, bio-geography, and political economy.	Thomas Rainey John Baldridge	Tue Thu	Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Winter	Winter Spring
Consuming Cultures Karen Gaul, Rita Pougiales and Julie Russo American studies anthropology community studies cultural studies history media arts media studies political economy sustainability studies	Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	8, 16	08 16	Day	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter	S 14Spring		In , the historian William Leach writes, “Whoever has the power to project a vision of the good life and make it prevail has the most decisive power of all.” Since the early 20th century, the pleasures of consumption have dominated prevailing visions of the good life in the United States. Innovations in mass production and mass media went hand in hand to link pleasure and prosperity with acquiring the latest commodities. Leisure has also been central to those pleasures, often in the form of tourism, fashion and entertainment, as people consume not only goods but experiences and ideas about what it means to be successful and happy. This program is an inquiry into these features of American consumer culture, particularly the values of convenience and authenticity that characterize the objects and desires it produces and exchanges.Students in this program will study the history and logic of U.S. consumer culture. We will consider the forces that have shaped each of us into consumers in this capitalist society, from representation and ideology to material and technological development. Sustainability will be a critical lens for our inquiry, as we consider the raw materials, labor and waste streams inherent in goods and in cultural experiences. Life cycle analysis of objects—from their origins in nature to their presence on retail shelves, personal spaces, garbage bins and landfills—will help us build a broader context for understanding the materiality with which we all engage every day.Our historical arc will be sweeping: from hunter-gatherers nearly two million years ago, to the origins of animal and plant domestication, to the formation of colonial settlements which created unprecedented challenges and opportunities, to the modern era. We will explore the patterns of resource use, social inequality and relative sustainability. We will examine how habits of conservation, thrift and re-use that were endemic to pre-modern societies transformed in tandem with the unprecedented energies of industrialization. We will investigate the theory and economics of post-industrial capitalism to better understand the impact of new media and technologies on the ways we produce and consume in the present day. We will also examine how curiosity about foreign and mysterious cultures in the context of globalization paved the way for tourism in which cultural authenticity is a central attraction. We will study the relationship between consumption and sustainability, pursuit of the good life through self-help and imported cultural practices such as yoga and meditation, between entertainment industries and communication networks, advertising and buying habits, spending money and self-worth. These contexts will enable us to destabilize and interrogate notions of what feels "normal" in the ways we engage as consumers today, including as consumers of knowledge in increasingly digitized institutions of higher education.Students will have the opportunity to examine ingrained routines of daily life, become conscious of the origins and meanings of their own habits and desires, and thereby become critical thinkers and actors in consumer culture. Our activities will include reading, writing papers and participating in seminar discussions on program topics, learning ethnographic research methods, experimenting with multimodal and collaborative work, viewing relevant films and participating in field trips. In fall quarter, we will build foundational skills and introduce key concepts and themes; winter quarter students will begin to develop their own research agenda; and in spring quarter, they can apply theory to practice in research and/or community-based projects. Spring quarter readings emphasize responses to consumer culture through alternative practices and collectives. Texts on on intentional communities include by Juliet Schor, by Karen Litfin, , and . Texts on virtual communities include by Fred Turner, by Lawrence Lessig, and selections from the anthology Digital Labor. These and related topics comprise an 8 credit academic block taught on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Students enrolling for 16 credits should be prepared to engage in substantial independent learning or work in the community (faculty can structure or guide this piece for new students). One option is a media production intensive that includes a series of technical workshops and a collaborative project. Program learning activities include: seminar responses and essay assignments, field trips, digital media workshops, yoga and awareness practices. Field trips may include Procession of the Species, visits to Fertile Ground, NW Ecobuilders Guild, the Arbutus School, and intentional communities in the PNW, and/or a tour of tiny homes.	Karen Gaul Rita Pougiales Julie Russo		Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter Spring
Critical Anthropology: Investigating the Transnational World Rita Pougiales anthropology community studies cultural studies economics field studies international studies political economy	Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	8	08	Day				Su 14 Session I Summer	The processes of economic and political globalization reshape and undermine the lives of people and communities throughout the world. Some anthropologists have turned their attention to the effects of globalization on traditional and modern societies, attempting to bring to light the full complexities and consequences of these transnational practices. For example, Joao Biehl develops an argument linking global economic activity in Brazil to what he calls the development of "zones of social abandonment" in most urban settings. Anthropologists conduct their studies through research, which involves gathering data, over long periods of time, as both "participant" and "observer" of those they are studying. Doing ethnographic research is simultaneously analytical and deeply embodied. This program includes an examination of ethnographic research methods and methodologies, a study of varied theoretical frameworks used by anthropologists today to interpret and find meaning in data, and an opportunity to design an ethnographic project of interest. Students will read and explore a range of ethnographic studies that reveal what an anthropologist—whom Ruth Behar calls a "vulnerable observer"—can uncover about the lives of people today, and advocate on their behalf.	Rita Pougiales	Mon Wed	Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Summer	Summer
Individual Study: East-West Psychology Ryo Imamura anthropology communications consciousness studies cultural studies education environmental studies field studies health history international studies music philosophy psychology religious studies sociology somatic studies sustainability studies Signature Required: Spring	Contract	SO–SRSophomore–Senior	16	16	Day			S 14Spring		This is an opportunity for sophomore, junior and senior students to create their own course of study and research, including internship, community service, and study abroad options. Before the beginning of spring quarter, interested students should submit an Individual Learning or Internship Contract to Ryo Imamura, which clearly states the work to be completed. Possible areas of study are Western psychology, Asian psychology, Buddhism, counseling, social work, cross-cultural studies, Asian-American studies, religious studies, nonprofit organizations, aging, death and dying, deep ecology and peace studies. Areas of study other than those listed above will be considered on a case-by-case basis.	Ryo Imamura		Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Spring	Spring
Power/Play: Balancing Control and Autonomy in the Social World Eric Stein and Toska Olson anthropology history sociology	Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	16	16	Day	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter	S 14Spring		“My soul would be an outlaw.”—Harlan Ellison, 1965Play incites the experience of aliveness, drawing us out of the routinized patterns of the everyday into realms of spontaneity, risk and imagination. Through play, the ordinary becomes temporarily disrupted: rules of propriety are suspended, social roles are inverted and everyday objects transform into the monstrous or fantastic. The vibrant, potentially transgressive nature of play raises questions about how it stands in relation to the forms of power that order society and shape us as individuals. How we play, when we play, and who we play with may unsettle these forms of power or become a part of how they operate. In this interdisciplinary program we will explore play as a creative pathway for the development of an authentic self, and also as a bold challenge to social mechanisms that limit autonomy and create borders between people. When we play, is there something we are playing against? What can the study of play teach us about the nature of power?In fall, we will explore how play has been shaped culturally and historically, with a focus on childhood in the United States and around the world. We will consider how the emergence of modern school discipline, the commodification of toys, the patterning of gender in childhood and the persistence of bullying has both constrained possibilities for play and allowed new forms to emerge. We will use ethnographic field studies of playgrounds, toy stores, children’s museums and primary school classrooms as the basis for creative work designing play structures, games, exhibits and school workshops. By exploring childhood play, we will gain an understanding of power dynamics between children and teachers, parents and children and among children themselves. Winter quarter will emphasize the strategic, symbolic forms of play that arise through adolescence and adulthood. We will consider how subcultures play with fashion, food, collections, fetishes and other social “tastes” to both mark and subvert hierarchies of class, gender and race. We will investigate the construction of “high” and “low” culture and the controlling notions of disgust, purity and danger through studies of tastings, sports tournaments, carnival and mass entertainment. We will also study humorous forms of verbal play and body play that have the capacity to construct or violate normalized social practices.Spring quarter turns to explorations of utopia and transgression in play. We will consider how particular forms of pleasure and desire are normalized and resisted, and how leisure and fantasy can reverse or co-opt power. Our inquiry will encompass topics such as science fiction, sexuality, space and architecture. Library research and ethnographic fieldwork will form the basis of a creative culminating project.Our studies will be grounded in sociology, anthropology and history, but will turn to other fields, including philosophy, education, literature and visual studies, to enrich our understandings of play. Readings may include works by Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Foucault, Douglas, Barthes, Bourdieu, Stewart and Butler. Throughout the year, students will engage in seminars, films, workshops, fieldwork exercises, writing and research projects designed to deepen their knowledge and apply theory to real-world situations.	Eric Stein Toska Olson		Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter
Self-Determination in Latin America: Mexico Tom Womeldorff, Catalina Ocampo and Alice Nelson anthropology cultural studies economics gender and women's studies history literature political economy	Program	FR–SRFreshmen–Senior	16	16	Day		W 14Winter			The recent history of Latin America can be described as a struggle for self-determination, from the wars of independence to the present-day unequal footing in the world economic system. Taking Mexico as a case study, we will explore how questions of self-determination have shaped Latin America and the lives of the various communities that constitute the region. We will focus, in particular, on the different roles that culture, politics, and economics have played in struggles for self-determination and investigate the tensions and symbioses between them. We will ask ourselves: What roles do culture and economics play as tools of self-determination? How can culture facilitate processes of self-determination at moments when political or economic self-determination is not possible? What are the limitations on the use of culture when one has limited political and economic self-determination? What role do third parties play in struggles for self-determination and how do we situate ourselves with regards to various processes of self-determination in Latin America?Our study of various groups and communities within Mexico and across its borders to the north and to the south will illuminate the country’s diversity, while also highlighting the connections between personal, national, and regional politics in Latin America. We will explore how self-determination is manifested in relationships of class, gender and ethnicity and study the specific ways in which struggles for self-determination have emerged in Mexico from the nineteenth century to the present. We will focus on various historical moments and issues including nation-building efforts and conflicts with the United States in the nineteenth century; issues of violence and class during the Mexican Revolution; contradictory uses of Indigenismo; popular movements and state repression in the 1960s and 70s; the emergence of the Zapatista movement; the economic impact of NAFTA; and questions of economic development and cultural identity during recent migrations to the United States.Throughout the quarter, we will engage historical and contemporary realities in Mexico using multiple frameworks from the humanities and the social sciences. In the process, we will introduce literary and cultural theory, as well as economic theories of capitalist development. Students will gain an in-depth ability to interpret literary texts in their social contexts, and to use economic models to understand specific aspects of Latin American societies. This program will involve frequent writing assignments and develop skills in visual analysis.	Tom Womeldorff Catalina Ocampo Alice Nelson		Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR	Winter	Winter
Small World: Poverty and Development on a Shrinking Planet Peter Dorman anthropology economics environmental studies geography health history international studies mathematics political economy political science sociology	Program	JR–SRJunior–Senior	16	16	Day	F 13 Fall	W 14Winter	S 14Spring		There are of poor people in the world today, and even more who have limited access to health care, education and political and cultural opportunities. The word commonly used to refer to the process of economic growth and the expansion of opportunity is development—but there is enormous disagreement over how this word should be understood or even whether it should be used at all. This program will examine development on multiple levels: historical, philosophical, political and economic. It will place the quest for development in the context of European colonial expansion, military conflict and the tension between competing cultural frameworks. In doing this, it will combine “outside” views of development, as seen by administrators and experts, with the “inside” views of people who are most directly affected by development and its absence. At the same time, there will be a strong push toward usable knowledge: learning the skills that are essential for people who work in the field of development and want to make a dent in this radically unequal world. Economics will be an important contributor to our knowledge base; the program will offer introductory-level micro- and macroeconomics, with examples drawn from the development experience. Just as important is statistics, since quantitative methods have become indispensable in development work. We will learn about survey methodology and techniques used to analyze data. Another basis for this program is the belief that economics, politics and lived experience are inseparable. Just as quantitative techniques are used to shed light on people’s experiences, their own voices are essential for making sense of the numbers and can sometimes overrule them altogether. We will read literature that expresses the perspective of writers from non-Western countries, view films and consider other forms of testimony. The goal is to see the world, as much as possible, through their eyes as well as ours.Spring quarter will be devoted primarily to research. It will begin with a short, intensive training in research methods, based on the strategy of deeply analyzing a few papers to see how their authors researched and wrote them. After this, depending on the skills and interests of students, an effort will be made to place them as assistants to professional researchers or, if they prefer, they can pursue their own projects. We will meet as a group periodically to discuss emerging trends in development research and practice, as well as to help each other cope with the difficulties in our own work. By the end of three quarters, students should be prepared for internships or further professional studies in this field.	Peter Dorman	Mon Mon Wed Thu Thu	Junior JR Senior SR	Fall	Fall Winter

2013–14 Academic Catalog

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Anthropology [clear]