ANTR-1118A Nature and Culture
This course is about the history of our way of looking at nature, showing us that it is not only the product of certain biogeographical conditions, but rather a legacy of human history, that is to say, the result of a social process. It is meant for students to place "nature" as a cultural category that is not neutral nor universal. Western Culture has attempted to universalize its values, political systems and its way of acquiring knowledge, by imposing itself on the other societies inhabiting the planet. This attempt has led to the beliefs of Western Culture being considered neutral, objective and natural "truths" when, like in other cultures, these beliefs turn out to be myths, stories and notions that are typical of the particular history of Western Culture. Considering the above, the course mentions different societies that inhabited and inhabit very diverse regions of the planet and have produced very different cultural landscapes. The course will discuss two central queries: What have been the ideas and notions of nature and its relationship with society in modern western culture and how have they been transformed? How has the western notion of nature mediated in the knowledge and recognition of other "cosmologies", other ways of socially constructing the relationship with nature?
Catalog page for this course