This course provides a multidisciplinary introduction to the culture and ecology of the Ecuadorian tropical rain forest and highland cloud forest. Students spend two weeks in the field at the Jatun Sacha Biological Reserve in eastern Ecuador and one week at the Guandera Reserve in the northern highlands. Topics of study include ecology, indigenous cultures, and the history and political ecology of these areas. In the field students will learn about tropical forest ecology through numerous guided hikes in the reserves, visits to botanical gardens, farms, experimental agricultural plots, and animal rehabilitation centers. Students will learn about indigenous culture by staying in Quichua towns and villages, through visits to local healers knowledgeable about medicinal plants and shamanism, and through arts and crafts demonstrations by local artisans. Evening discussions will center on the environmental and cultural impact of resource extraction, eco-tourism, globalization, and environmental ethics. Instruction will be in English.

Assignments and Evaluation

Your grade will be based on preparation for the course (30%) and  participation in field experiences and discussions (70%). There will be no formal examinations.

Required Reading (30%)
Students are required to read and be prepared to discuss the books listed below.

Forsyth, Adrian, Kenneth Miyata, Ken Miyata 1987. Tropical Nature. Macmillan Publishing Company.

Harner. Michael J.  1984.  The Jivaro. People of the Sacred Waterfall. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Please bring Rob Rachiowiecki's Lonely Planet Ecuador and the Galapagos (4th Ed) with you to the field

These books can be purchased at the UCONN CO-OP and are also available from Amazon.com

Participation in field experiences and discussions (70%)
Students are expected to participate in field activities and discussion groups.

 
Additional  Recommended Readings 

Chernela, Janet M.  1995.  "Sustainability in Resource Rights and Conservation. The Case of an Awa Biosphere Reserve in Colombia and Ecuador," pp. 245-261 in Leslie E. Sponsel (Ed.), Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Amazonia.  Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

Davis, Wade  1996.  One River. Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest.  New York: Touchstone (Simon & Schuster).  
     Chapter 8. The Sad Lowlands, pp. 245-269. 
     Chapter 9. Among the Waorani, pp. 270-295.

Denevan, William M.  1974.  "Campa Subsistence in the Gran Pajonal, Eastern Peru," pp. 92-110 in Patricia J. Lyon (Ed.), Native South Americans. Ethnology of the Least Known Continent.  Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.

Harner, Michael J.  1974.  "The Sound of Rushing Water," pp. 276-282 in  Patricia J. Lyon (Ed.),  Native South Americans. Ethnology of the Least Known Continent.  Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.

Kensinger, Kenneth M.  1974.  "Cashinahua Medicine and Medicine Men," pp. 283-288 in  Patricia J. Lyon (Ed.),  Native South Americans. Ethnology of the Least Known Continent.  Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.

Murtado, Blanca  1998.  "Indigenous Women's Identities and the Politics of Cultural Reproduction in the Ecuadorian Amazon," American Anthropologist 100 (2): 409-420.

Pichón, Francisco J.  1996.  "Land-Use Strategies in the Amazon Frontier: Farm-Level Evidence fro Ecuador," Human Organization 55(4): 416-424.

Sponsel, Leslie E.  1995.  "Relationships Among the World System, Indigenous Peoples, and Ecological Anthropology in the Endangered Amazon," pp.263-293 in Leslie E. Sponsel (Ed.), Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Amazonia.   Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

Wilson, David J.    1999.  "Amazonian Villages and Chiefdoms," pp. 168-250 in
Indigenous South Americans of the Past and Present.  An Ecological Perspective.  Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Yost, James A.   1983.  "Twenty Years of Contact: The Mechanisms of Change in Wao ("Auca") Culture,"  in R. Hames and W. Vickers (Eds.), Adaptive Responses of Native Amazonians.  New York: Academic Press.

Books Recommended for Further Reading 

Brown, Michael F.  1986. Tsewa’s Gift. Magic and Meaning in an Amazonian Society.  Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.

Davis, Wade  1996.  One River. Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest.  New York: Touchstone (Simon & Schuster).  

Kricher, John  1997.  A Neotropical Companion. An Introduction to the Animal, Plants, and Ecosystems of the New World Tropics. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press. 

Lyon, Patricia J. (Ed.),  Native South Americans. Ethnology of the Least Known Continent.  Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, Inc.

Meggers, Betty J. 1996.  Amazonia. Man and Nature in a Counterfeit Paradise. Revised Edition. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Merchant, Carolyn   1992.  Radical Ecology. The Search for a Livable World.  New York: Routledge.

Mueller, Marnie   1994.  Green Fires: Assault on Eden. A Novel of the Ecuadorian Rain Forest.  Curbstone.

Rudel, Thomas K. with Bruce Horowitz  1993.  Tropical Deforestation. Small Farmers and Land Clearing in the Ecuadorian Amazon.  New York: Columbia University Press.

Sponsel, Leslie E.  (Ed.), Indigenous Peoples and the Future of Amazonia. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.

Wilson, David J.    1999.  Indigenous South Americans of the Past and Present.  An Ecological Perspective.  Boulder, CO: Westview Press.