SC/SS 115 Ethnobotany spring 2007 Syllabus

Wk Day Date Area Topic
0 Thurs 11 Jan Introduction Introduction to Ethnobotany. Cyanobacteria.
1 Tues 16 Jan Botany Outdoor lower plants field hike: Bryophytes, SVPs, lycopodium, ferns. WET MUDDY STEEP.
1 Thurs 18 Jan Ethnogarden Outdoor: Finding the plants of fall 2006: Tall razor grass will cut your legs and hands. Merremia peltata will stain your clothes. Sharp knives will be used. Sweaty. Hot. Wet. Muddy.
2 Tues 23 Jan Ethnography Preparation for group presentations.
2 Thurs 25 Jan Ethnography Group presentations cyanobacteria, bryophytes, lycopodium, ferns.
3 Tues 30 Jan Test One
3 Thurs 01 Feb Ethnography Outdoor field trip: Traditional and medicinal plants of Pohnpei field trip to Pohnpei state campus. Read People, Plants, and Culture chapter two. Plants that heal lecture. Public versus private knowledge.
4 Tues 06 Feb Botany Plant collecting process. Herbarium specimens.
4 Thurs 08 Feb Ethnography Healing plant individual presentations
5 Tues 13 Feb Ethnography Healing plant individual presentations
5 Thurs 15 Feb Botany Outdoor field trip: Gymnosperms and plants with economic value. Pohnpei botanic garden road trip and walk.
6 Tues 20 Feb Botany Preparation for gymnosperm presentations
6 Thurs 22 Feb Botany Group presentations: gymnosperms
7 Tues 27 Feb Midterm
7 Thurs 01 Mar Ethnography Read Balick chapter three. Plants as food lecture. [Scrubbed for arrival of Hokule'a and Maisu]
8 Tues 06 Mar Ethnography Outdoor walk: Food plants of Nanyo
8 Thurs 08 Mar Ethnography Plants as food: Each cultural group brings a traditional food to share.
9 Tues 13 Mar Botany Outdoor field walk: Angiosperms: Vegetative morphology
9 Thurs 15 Mar Ethnography Balick four. Plants as the basis for material culture lecture.
10 Tues 20 Mar Ethnography Field trip: Marekeiso production
10 Thurs 22 Mar Ethnography Material culture individual presentations
11 Tues 27 Mar Ethnography Material culture individual presentations
11 Thurs 29 Mar Test Two
12 Tues 03 Apr Ethnogarden Muddy, steep, wet, dangerous, ankle twisting, raszor grass death by a thousand cuts, heart attack inducing iuiu, ketiou transplant hike. Mountain men and women only need apply.
12 Thurs 05 Apr Spring break
13 Tues 10 Apr Botany Outdoor field walk: Angiosperms: Floral morphology. Sketch flowers.
13 Thurs 12 Apr Econobotany Bring an unusual fruit to eat, botanic fruit. URL Lab: World foods and fruits. Finding information on the web.
14 Tues 17 Apr Econobotany URL lab group presentations.
14 Thurs 19 Apr Ethnography Balick five. Entering other worlds lecture: Five types of psychoactive substances. Memes and Areca catechu.
15 Tues 24 Apr Ethnography Piper methysticum: Chemistry and Uses, Legends
15 Thurs 26 Apr Ethnography Field Trip: Kava cultural ceremony
16 Tues 01 May Ethnogarden Outdoor work with dirt: Ethnobotanical garden clean-up. Tall razor grass will cut your legs and hands. Merremia peltata will stain your clothes. Sharp knives will be used. Sweaty. Hot. Wet. Muddy.
16 Thurs 03 May Ethnogarden Outdoor work with dirt: Ethnobotanical garden BRING A PLANT TO PLANT! Take Home Final
17 Tues 08 May
Take home final examination due by 5:00 P.M.

Course notes

Course outline objectives

  1. Course Objectives
    1. Program learning outcomes
      1. Define and explain the concepts, principles, and theories of a field of science.
      2. Demonstrate basic cultural literacy of the Micronesian region.
      3. Demonstrate the ability to read, speak and write effectively in English about Micronesian Studies Program course content.
    2. Specific student learning outcomes for course
      Botanic
      1. Identify local plants by local and scientific names.
      2. Compare and contrast the distinguishing reproductive characteristics of different phyla of plants including mosses, seedless vascular plants, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.
      3. Label the key morphological features of the different phyla of plants including mosses, seedless vascular plants, gymnosperms, and angiosperms including the morphology of the reproductive structures.

        Ethnographic
      4. Communicate and describe the healing uses of local plants and the cultural contexts in which that healing occurs.
      5. Contribute, participate in, and experience eating local food made from plants and describe the production process.
      6. Communicate and describe the use of plants for transportation, for shelter, and in other material culture applications.
      7. Describe and observe the use, role, and importance of psychoactive plants within their traditional ceremonial cultural contexts.
      8. [optional] Participate in the development and maintenance of an ethnobotanical garden.
  2. Course content
    1. Cyanophyta, mosses, and seedless vascular plants
    2. Healing plants
    3. Gymnosperms
    4. Food plants
    5. Angiosperms: vegetative morphology
    6. Material culture plants
    7. Angiosperms: floral morphology
    8. Psychoactive plants
    9. [optional] Ethnobotanic garden
  3. Textbooks
    1. plantspeopleculture Plants, people, and culture: The Science of Ethnobotany. ©2005 Balick, Michael J., and Cox, Paul Alan. ISBN 0615129536. Distributed by the American Botanical Council, P.O. Box 144345, Austin, Texas, 78714-4345, Herbalgram.org, Phone: 512-926-4900
    2. A Photographic Atlas for the Botany Laboratory, 4th [or subsequent editions] Kent Van de Graff, John L. Crawley Samuel R. Rushforth. Morton Publishing Company
      phoatlasbotlab4th
  4. Required course materials: No specific materials.
  5. Reference materials: No specific materials.
  6. Instructional cost: Field trips or hikes to a local botanic garden where possible. Each term the course on Pohnpei also observes a kava ceremony.
  7. Methods of instruction: This course emphasizes participation via presentations by students, hikes on which students learn to field identify plants, the preparation of local foods to share with other students, field trips to botanic gardens and ethnobotanically relevant ceremonies. Students engage in group work, hikes, field trips, presentations. Other methods include lectures and guest speakers. Evaluation will include tests, a midterm, essay questions, and evidence of work done via presentations.
  8. Evaluation: No credit by evaluation.
  9. Attendance policy: As per COM-FSM policy in current catalog.
  10. Academic honesty: As per COM-FSM policy in current catalog.