POLITICAL ECOLOGY OF RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
MAF 501     3 CREDITS         
Spring 2008

Dr. Sarah Keene Meltzoff
Marine Affairs and Policy
305 756 5522  home office  
This course provides a grounding in political ecology as an important theoretical approach and tool for resource policy and management. We will explore how resource use, development, and social justice relate to the politics of conservation and management.

A   Political Ecology as an Approach to Policy and Management
Examine social change and user conflict in terms of ethnicity, class, gender, and generation. Cases will be drawn from ethnography in political ecology.  

Readings:
Utne   buy/borrow/subscribe to this magazine to read the two bimonthly issues         www.utne.com

Reader of Political Ecology Articles to be distributed in class (price to be determined by Kinkos)

B  Original Research Project Using the Political Ecology Approach
Students will learn how to carry out a fieldwork research project, using the political ecology approach to analyze an issue related to resource use and management. The project will be written up in a concise, 5-10 page research proposal format in recognition of the relatively short time for fieldwork, and to train students in framing research questions. The interviews composing a field journal will be attached as an appendix. Students will present their proposals to the class towards the end of the semester.

Reading/Discussion Journal
At the start of every class, each student will turn in a typed copy of their brief summary highlighting questions and issues raised by the reading. These will not be returned. 

Keep the original for yourself. This  summary (1 page maximum) can be in bullet formate. It includes synopsis of key points, comparisons, and questions raised by the reading in order to organize thinking and stimulate discussion in this seminar-style interactive course. 

Compile your summaries and thoughts, editing in ideas gained during class discussion, to create a Reading/Discussion Journal.

Grading Criteria:
Reading and Interactive Class Participation40%
Reading/Discussion Journal20%
5-10 page Fieldwork Research Paper  40%





MAF 501 Reading List Spring 2008

Beneath the Veneer of Paradise 
Article #1: Beneath the Veneer of Paradise: The Struggle over Cuban Identity and Place in Key West: Sarah Keene Meltzoff

Choices Options and Constraints 
Article #2: Choices, Options, and Constraints: Decisions in Natural Resource Management: 
Nicole D. Peterson

Confessions of an Economic Hit Man 
Article #3: Confessions of an Economic Hit Man: John Perkins

Hunting for Tuna and Cash in the Solomons 
Article #4:  Hunting for Tuna and Cash in the Solomons: A rebirth of Artisanal Fishing in Malaita: Sarah Keene Meltzoff

Interview Techniques and Field Relationships 
Article #5: Interview Techniques and Field Relationships: Benjamin D. Paul

Journal of a Political Ecology 
Article #6: Marisquadoras of the Shellfish Revolution: The rise of women in Co-management on Illa de Arousa, Galicia: Sarah Keene Meltzoff

Manifest Ecological Destinies 
Article #7: Manifest Ecological Destinies: Local Rights and Global Environmental Agendas: Richard A. Schroeder 

Out of the Mainstream 
Article #8: Out of the Mainstream: The Importance of Reservation 

Political Ecology of Wildlife Conservation in Mt. Meru Area of Northeast Tanzania 
Article #9: Political Ecology of Wildlife Conservation in the St. Meru Area  of Northeast Tanzania: R.P. Neumann

Reimagining Political Ecology - Culture-Power-History 
Article #10: Reimaging Political Ecology- Culture-Power-History: A Biersack

Reimagining  Political Ecology - Nature and Society 
Article #11: Nature and Society in the Age of Postmodernity 

Reimagining  Political Ecology - The Political Ecology 
Article #12: The Political Ecology of Fisheries in the Upper Gulf of California. 

Strawberry Fields 
Article #13: Politics, Class and Work in California Agriculture: Miriam Wells 

The Cultural Dimensions of Environmental Decision Making 
Article #14: The Cultural Dimensions of Environmental Decision Making: Richard Griggs 

The Social and Political Economy of Coastal Zone Management 
Article #15: The Social and Political Ecology of Coastal Zone Management: Shrimp Mariculture in Ecuador:Sarah Keene Meltzoff

The Troubles Seas of a Spanish Fisherman 
Article #16: The Troubled seas of Spanish Fisherman: Marine Policy and the Ecology of Change: Sarah Keene Meltzoff

Trees as Tools Trees as Text 
Article #17: Trees as Tools, Trees as Text: Struggles over Resources in Zambrana-Chacuey, Dominican Republic: Rocheleau & Ross

Sustaining El Nino-Induced Scallp Booms with Aquaculture 
Article #18: Sustaining El Niño-Induced Scallp Booms with Aquaculture: Livelihood Transitions of Artisanal Fishing People in the Paracas National Reserve, Peru:Sarah Keene Meltzoff