Class Schedule

IRLS 400H, 500

Meets T, Th 11:00 -12:15

Location: UofA Main Library C 205

Richard Stoffle (rstoffle@u.arizona.edu)

621-2462

and

Patricia Tarin (tarinp@u.library.arizona.edu )

621-6428

(Instructors)

Office Hours

3-5 T, Th 319 Anthropology Building

Knowledge, like the remainder of the world, is socially constructed. Also like the rest of the world there is "truth" in knowledge. The course turns on these two issues. What is true about what humans know, and how knowledge is socially constructed. These issues lead to important societal debates like who is Kennewick Man, do local people know about the environment so that they can become partners with scientists, and what "knowledge" should be placed in libraries. The course is specifically focused on American Indian knowledge, but the issues are contextualized more broadly. Special guest speakers will provide their own perspectives on how and why American Indian peoples know about who they are, where they came from, and what makes their natural world work.

The class is mixed graduate and honors undergraduates. Grades will be assessed against a total of 300 possible points. All students will take the same exam ( a 100 point midterm) and write a 200 point paper. Graduate students will write a 15 page, double space paper and the undergraduates will write a 10 page paper. The topic of all papers will be centered on an American Indian knowledge debate. The paper will present evidence on both sides of the debate. The evidence will be analyzed as to where it came from and how was it argued (what authority) as knowledge. There is no need to resolve the debate but the paper should analyze the debate itself. The paper will conclude with a 1-2 page long set of recommendations for materials on the debate to be included in a library, along with reasons for their inclusion. Bibliography does not count as part of the length. A ½ page paper topic is due on September 30; an abstract and a one-page outline is due by October 30^th. Paper is due the last day of class, December 9^th.

Some Potential Paper Topics:

• Kennewick Man
• Spirit Cave Mummy
• Native American Origins (Creation vs. Migration)
• Cultural Affiliation with past people, artifacts, and ideas
• Knowledge of Nature – ecology of burning, use of radiation, plant genetics
• Pleistocene Mega Fauna Kill Off
• Caribbean Ecology Disturbance in the Mid-Holocene
• Intellectual Property – Given by the Creator vs. Made by Man
• Use of traditional knowledge in court proceedings

Readings

Books:

Goldman, Alvin

1999 Knowledge in a Social World. Oxford: Clarendon Press

Stoffle, Richard, Nieves Zedeno, and David Halmo (eds.) [SZH]

Cajete, Gregory

Deloria, Jr., Vine

1. Shepard, Paul (1995) "Virtually Hunting Reality in the forests of Simulacra" In Reinventing Nature?: Responses to Postmodern Deconstruction. M. Soule and G. Lease (eds.). Pp. 17-29. Washington, DC: Island Press.
2. Nabhan, Gary (1995) "Cultural Parallax in Viewing North American Habitats. In Reinventing Nature. M. Soule and G Lease (eds.). Pp. 87-101. Washington, DC: Island Press.
3. Stoffle, R., R. Toupal, and N. Zedeno. (2003) "Landscape, Nature, and Culture
   A Diachronic Model of Human-Nature Co-Adaptations." Teaching manuscript. Also published in Nature Across Cultures in a shorter form.
4. Hale, J.R., J.Z. De Boer, J. Chanton, and H. Spiller. (2003). Questioning the Delphic Oracle. Scientific American 289(2): 66-73.
5. Shermer, Michael. (2003) The Ignoble Savage: Science Reveals Humanity’s Heart of Darkness. Scientific American 289(2): 33.
6. Halmo, D., R. Stoffle, and M. Evans (1999). Puchuxwavaat Uapi (To Know About Plants): Traditional Knowledge and the Cultural Significance of Southern Paiute Plants. Human Organization 58(4): 416-429.
7. Stoffle, R., L. Loendorf, D. Austin, D. Halmo, and A. Bulletts. (2000). "Ghost Dancing the Grand Canyon: Southern Paiute Rock Art, Ceremony, and Cultural Landscapes. Current Anthropology 41(1): 11- 38.
8. Maffi, Luisa. 2001. On the Interdependence of Biological and Cultural Diversity. In On Biocultural Diversity: Linking Language, Knowledge, and the Environment Luisa Maffi (ed.) Pp 1-50. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
9. Muhlaulsler, Peter. 2001. Ecolinguistics, Linguistic Diversity, and Ecological Diversity. In On Biocultural Diversity: Linking Language, Knowledge, and the Environment Luisa Maffi (ed.) Pp 133-144. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.
10. Hill, Jane (2002). What is Lost When Names Are Forgotten? In Nature Knowledge by Glauco Sanga (ed.). Oxford: Berghahn Press.
11. Stoffle, R. and R. Arnold. (2003). Confronting the Angry Rock: American Indians’ Situated Risks from Radioactivity. Ethnos 68(2): 230-248.

Schedule of Readings, Topics, and Speakers

Models of Humans
Lecture 3,4
Lecture 4
Lecture 5
Lecture 6
Lecture 7,8
Lecture 9, 10
Lecture 11
The Yellow Book