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Faculty: Celia López-Chávez
Student Teacher: Jessica Martin
This seminar will ONLY be offered in conjunction with the 4-unit companion class also entitled From the Rockies to the Andes. The majority of this class will be composed of field trips within New Mexico and a trip to Argentina during Spring Break. Together, these two courses provide a comparative study of human impact and natural history of two regions: New Mexico and Western Argentina.
This course will examine human life of both regions in the past and present. How have different cultural groups dealt with aridity? How has geography impacted human life and how have humans impacted their environment? What are the characteristics of water culture, from indigenous irrigation ways to colonial acequias and modern dams? How have natives and foreigners seen the culture and nature of both regions through narrative accounts? How are traditional folk medicine, products and food related to their own environment? What is the influence of different cultures and their contributions to the economic and social development of both regions? What is the role of both regions and their cultures in their respective national developments? What are the human aspects of biosphere reserves? What does human history of both regions teach us about the future of humanity in arid zones? In addition, in 2009 we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth. What better opportunity to reflect on his legacy than following his route in Argentina and reading his Voyage of the Beagle in the exact places in the Andes Mountains where he was.
The combined classes provide a strongly interdisciplinary focus on the two areas covered. We will meet all day on Fridays to allow sufficient time for field trips in New Mexico. In addition, there will be one overnight field trip that requires participation on a Saturday as well as Friday. Travel to Argentina will be from March 12th– 22nd.
Previous application to the Program and acceptance is required to register in this course. For more information regarding application go to: www.unm.edu/~andes/ Students must pay a non-refundable deposit of $600 at the time of acceptance into the Program and there will be a course fee of approximately $1,600 due during registration. This fee will cover almost all expenses (except for a couple of meals) in nine days in Argentina as well as for transportation, museum entrances, and lodging in field trips in New Mexico. Students must sign up for both courses (UHON 301-014 and UHON 301-013); however, they only pay a single program fee+deposit of $2,200. In other words, students will not get charged twice.
Readings
A course reader will be provided on e-reserve. This will include a selection of accounts by scientists, explorers, and native peoples, as well as academic articles on culture and environmental history of both regions. In addition, there will be two books:
Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin
Seeing Things Whole: The Essential John Wesley Powell, edited by William deBuys
Requirements
As always, students are expected to attend all classes, to prepare and complete all assigned readings and to participate in the class discussions and regular assignments. All field trips are mandatory. Each student will keep a journal throughout the class. This will act as a field notebook as well as a more traditional journal. There will be a final research paper and an oral presentation of that work.
This course fulfills 4 credit hours of Arts and Sciences group requirement in Social & Behavioral Sciences.
Course Description of Dr. Shepherd's Biogeographic Comparison of Arid Zones in the New World