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DAILY SCHEDULE AND READINGS
Introduction
Intensification
Science
American Injustice
Global Injustice
The Future

EXAMS
1st Exam, Due Jan 23
2nd Exam, Due Feb 13
3rd Exam, Due Mar 15

ANTHROPOLOGY 210

INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL ANTHROPOLOGY

FIRST TAKE-HOME EXAM
Due Monday, January 23, at 5:00 p.m.

For this exam, you are required to write essay answers to one question in each of the two categories below: intensification and sustainability; and intensification and food. You must answer one question in each category to pass the exam. Your answers must be between 400 and 600 words each. We will not read beyond the 600-word limit. Answers will be graded according to four criteria:
  • The degree to which they show understanding of the ideas and content presented in class readings, lectures, and section activities
  • The quality of the logical reasoning in your argument
  • How well you use the material from lectures and readings to support your argument
  • The quality of your English writing. If your native language is not English, please indicate that on each of your answers.
The exam is due in the Canvas assignment folder at 5:00 p.m. on Monday, January 23. Please use .doc, .pdf, or .rtf document format.

Late papers will be graded down according to the schedule on the grading page, but papers will not be accepted after midnight on January 25 without a written excuse acceptable to the instructor.

QUESTION 1: INTENSIFICATION AND SUSTAINABILITY
Answer one of the following questions. Do not exceed 600 words:

A. Sustainability is a concept that is difficult to define, and it is sometimes easier to say what it is not than what it is. What are the factors that threaten sustainability in foraging, pre-industrial agricultural, and industrial economies? In your answer of 500-600 words, refer to at least three specific case studies (at least one for each type of society) we have discussed in this class through readings, films, lectures/sections.

B. What do the history of the Green Revolution, (as outlined by Niazi), the “affluence” of foraging societies (as Sahlins defines affluence), and the limitations on shifting agriculture (as discussed in class and seen in the Slash and Burn film) tell us about the question of human population: does population growth lead to intensification, or do technologies of intensification enable growth in population?

QUESTION 2: INTENSIFICATION AND FOOD
Answer one of the following questions. Do not exceed 600 words:

A. Alice Waters speaks eloquently about the virtues of organic, natural food and the vices of industrial monocrop agriculture. When you consider the food diary you kept for the January 18th section, what patterns do you see in your food consumption? What factors are at play in the choices you make? What does this say about broader societal trends? (Be sure to answer all three parts of the question and make specific reference to multiple class materials: readings, videos, lecture/section, etc.).

B. Our readings, lectures, films, and sections dealing with intensification and food should give you a good idea about the differences between non-industrial agriculture, which is currently the primary mode of food production in South Asia (Pakistan, India, Bangladesh) and Africa south of the Sahara, industrial mechanized agriculture, which is the primary mode of food production in the United States and other wealthy countries, and efforts in these countries to restore organic, biodiverse farming methods, and to make fresh nutritious food more widely available in low-income communities. Using these class resources and your own food diaries that you compiled for the section on January 18, explain the differences in distribution of obesity by socioeconomic status in India and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the one hand, and in Canada and the United States on the other. You can find these patterns on worldobesity.org.