Dartmouth offers numerous undergraduate courses that have content focused on issues facing the polar regions. The From Pole to Pole class provides a general introduction to polar histories, polar environmental issues, and attempts to protect and manage polar resources.

DON'T MISS THESE FALL 2009 COURSES!

ANTH 75: 12  Ecology, Culture & Environment 

Anthropology's interest in the interactions of humans and their environments has been long-standing, especially in archaeology. In this seminar we will consider changing conceptual frameworks for understanding human-environmental interactions and long-standing debates about nature vs. culture, materialist vs. symbolic approaches, the development of cultural ecology, and the new ecologies. We will draw on the research of archaeologists, biological and sociocultural anthropologists, geographers, and historians. Nichols

EARS 6 : 11 Environmental Change

This course will investigate the science of natural and human induced environmental change on a global scale. The Earth has never existed in a pristine balanced state, and an understanding of pre-industrial changes in the Earth’s environment provides important information that we can use to interpret current environmental change. Topics that will be discussed include: the evolution of the atmosphere, global temperature variation, sea level change, atmospheric trace gases and global warming, stratospheric ozone, acid rain and tropospheric ozone, human migration and landscape development, and global catastrophes. Mikucki, Hawley

NAS 36: 12  Indigenous Nationalism, Native Rights, and Sovereignty

This course focuses on the legal and political relationship between the indigenous peoples of Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand and their respective colonial governments. Students will examine contemporary indigenous demands for self-government, especially territorial claims, within the context of the legislative and political practices of their colonial governments. The course will begin with an examination of the notion of Aboriginal self-government in Canada and develop it in light of the policy recommendations found in the report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996). Using the Canadian experience as a benchmark, students will then compare these developments to indigenous peoples’ experiences in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. An important theme of the course will be to develop an international approach to the issue of indigenous rights and to explore how colonial governments are responding to indigenous demands for justice. Not open to first-year students without permission of instructor. Turner.

RUSS 13:  10   Slavic Folklore: Vampires, Witches and Firebirds

This course explores the world of Slavic folklore and legends. Through an analysis of fairytales and other folk texts we will examine the nature and forms of oral tradition in its social context. Topics will include the relationship of myth to folk literature as well as the distinguishing traits of the folk genres most prevalent in the Slavic countries. The themes will be related to the contemporary world wherever possible, examining what happens when traditional cultures and beliefs conflict with modern views. The course is based on materials in Russian and East European cultures, but also draws from other traditions.

Our primary readings will include a selection of fairytales, folksongs and ritual practices of folk beliefs, medicine, incantations and divinations. Backgroundworks include such books as Russian Folk Belief by Linda Ivanits, The Morphology of the Folk Tale by Vladimir Propp, and The Uses of Enchantment by Bruno Bettelheim. We will also examine other media, including film, music (both folk music and more contemporary pieces, including Stravinsky’s The Firebird) and art.

Open to all classes. Somoff, Gronas.

 Other classes:

These classes that focus on Northern and/or Polar Regions or on issues of special importance to the region include:

• ANTH 4 / NAS 10
  Peoples and Cultures of Native North America
  10W: 2, Kan
• ANTH 47 / NAS 37
  Alaska: American Dreams and Native Realities
  10S: 2, Kan
• ANTH 75
  Ecology, Culture & Environment
  09F: 12
• EARS 6
  Environmental Change
  09F: 11, Mikucki, Hawley
• EARS 70
  Glaciology
  10S: 2A, Hawley
• ENVS 12
  Energy and the Environment
  10W: 10A, Friedland
• ENVS 15.1
  Pole to Pole: Environmental Issues of the Earth's Cold Regions
  10W: 10, Virginia
• ENVS 30
  Global Environmental Science
  10S: 12, Ball
• ENVS 80.1
  Seminar in Environmental Studies (Arctic Environmental Change)
  10W: 10A,Virginia
• NAS 36
  Indigenous Nationalism, Native Rights and Sovereignty
  09F: 12, Turner
• NAS 37
  Alaska: American Dreams and Native Realities
  10S: 12, Kan
• RUSS 13
  Slavic Folklore: Vampires, Witches and Firebirds
  09F, 10S: 10, Somoff, Gronos