ETHNOBOTANY

Prerequisites & course information

Requisites: Sophomore standing Course Designation: Core GenEd - Civics & Perspectives Ethnic St - Ethnic Studies Breadth - Biological Science or Social Science Level - Intermediate L&S Credit - L&S Liberal Arts and Science Grad 50% - Counts toward 50% graduate coursework requirement Repeatable for Credit: No Last Taught: Summer 2026 Learning Outcomes: 1. Provide examples of practices that fall on the continuum between foraging and cultivation (i.e., practices considered TRM or Traditional Resource Management). Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Describe the rationale behind practices of "traditional" agriculture and how these practices compare to industrialized agriculture. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Summarize the process of crop domestication and the importance of conserving the diversity of crop plants and their wild relatives. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 4. Describe Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and give examples of how they can complement the research of professional ("Western") science. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 5. Describe human uses of different classes of plant secondary compounds and evaluate health claims made about plant foods or their components. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 6. Describe the processes by which North American Indigenous nations lost their land, and often their agricultural traditions, from 1492 to the present day. Describe impacts of these losses on the health of Indigenous peoples, and how Native nations are now responding to this health crisis. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 7. Question your own and others' claims and assumptions regarding the knowledge and practices of Indigenous cultures of the USA and elsewhere. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 8. Analyze and critique the primary ethnobotanical literature. Audience: Graduate Learning Outcomes: 1. Provide examples of practices that fall on the continuum between foraging and cultivation (i.e., practices considered TRM or Traditional Resource Management). Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 2. Describe the rationale behind practices of "traditional" agriculture and how these practices compare to industrialized agriculture. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 3. Summarize the process of crop domestication and the importance of conserving the diversity of crop plants and their wild relatives. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 4. Describe Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and give examples of how they can complement the research of professional ("Western") science. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 5. Describe human uses of different classes of plant secondary compounds and evaluate health claims made about plant foods or their components. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 6. Describe the processes by which North American Indigenous nations lost their land, and often their agricultural traditions, from 1492 to the present day. Describe impacts of these losses on the health of Indigenous peoples, and how Native nations are now responding to this health crisis. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 7. Question your own and others' claims and assumptions regarding the knowledge and practices of Indigenous cultures of the USA and elsewhere. Audience: Both Grad & Undergrad 8. Analyze and critique the primary ethnobotanical literature. Audience: Graduate