Special Topics in Anthropology: "Cultural Resource Management and Environmental Politics"

"Why is it important that we save significant cultural places, landscapes, and structures, and intangible culture?" This will be the focal question of this class. Through the next 10 weeks we will explore this question and gain a better understanding of what makes something culturally significant and the laws and policies that govern cultural resources. Cultural Resources Management (CRM) is concerned with traditional and historic culture including archaeology; architecture; language; cultural landscapes; sacred sites; ecosystems; mortuary practices; ethno-biology; oral and intangible culture and history; intellectual property rights; enforcement and monitoring of preservation laws and policies; and can also encompasses contemporary culture.

This Course will follow the development of the preservation movement and policy in the United States, with comparisons to Britain and Europe, Egypt, and Japan. We will examine the role of the industrial revolution in the creation of national preservation policies and ideas of national identities, and how the later influenced policies and enforcements. We will examine congressional acts ranging from the 1906 Antiquities Act, 1916 National Parks Act, to the 1978 Archeological Resource Protection Act and 1990 Native American Graves and Protection and Repatriation Act. We will discuss the ethics and moral decision making that goes into these laws and the issues that arise with legislation and enforcement of cultural preservation.

Dr. Eli Suzukovich III is an anthropologist and lecturer in the Environmental Policy and Culture program and the Science in Human Culture program (Anthropology).

Social & Behavioral Sciences Distro Area.

Cross-listed as ENVR_POL 390-0-24.