Environmental Anthropology and Ethnobotany

Instructor:

David F. Rodríguez-Mora, MS in Plant Biology, Doctoral Candidate in Environmental Anthropology, University of Texas at San Antonio

Institutional email: davidfelipe.rodriguezmora@my.utsa.edu

• Formal lectures introduce key concepts in environmental anthropology (e.g., nature–culture relations, political ecology, environmental justice) and ethnobotany (e.g., plant identification, classification systems, economic uses, conservation of culturally significant species).
• Informal field lectures take place during orientation walks, boat excursions, and plant-collection days, responding to what we encounter in real time.
• Workshops cover specialized methods such as plant voucher preparation, semi-structured interviewing, participatory rural appraisal tools, and biodiversity monitoring techniques.
• Students will be encouraged to reflect on the chain of transformations in their research—from initial field observations and interviews, through specimens, maps, and spreadsheets, to final written interpretations—drawing on Bruno Latour’s (1999) concept of circulating reference to maintain a clear link between their data and the environments and communities they represent.

• Quantitative biodiversity sampling and use-value index calculation.
• Forest, mangrove, and agroforestry plant inventories.
• Market and value-chain surveys documenting economic botany.
• Participatory mapping and community-led plant walks.
• Comparative studies of resource use in protected vs. unprotected areas.

1. Identify a research question linking ecological and cultural dimensions of plant use or management.
2. Develop a written research proposal, including background, objectives, and methods.
3. Conduct field data collection over a concentrated period of approximately one week, using both anthropological and botanical techniques.
4. Analyze their results using appropriate qualitative and/or quantitative methods.
5. Apply circulating reference thinking to track how meaning and accuracy are maintained as data move from the field to final written and visual forms.
6. Prepare a technical report and deliver a formal presentation at the end-of-course symposium.

• Tropical forest & mangrove biodiversity transects
• Cultural landscape mapping in collaboration with local residents
• Agroforestry and ethnobotanical gardens in surrounding communities
• Community-led conservation initiatives

1. Identify and classify culturally significant plants in forest, coastal, agroforestry, and market contexts.
2. Apply ethnographic and botanical field methods to study human–plant relationships.
3. Analyze plant use and management through the lens of political ecology, multispecies ethnography, and environmental justice.
4. Critically evaluate conservation and development interventions in relation to plant-based livelihoods.
5. Integrate ecological, cultural, and economic data in short-term research projects.
6. Trace and reflect on the transformation of data from field observation to final analysis using Latour’s concept of circulating reference.
7. Communicate findings in professional and public formats.

1. Haenn, N., Wilk, R., & Harnish, A. (eds.). (2016). The Environment in Anthropology: A Reader in Ecology, Culture, and Sustainable Living (2nd ed.). NYU Press.
2. Balick, M. J., & Cox, P. A. (2021). Plants, People, and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany (2nd ed.). Garland Science.
3. Alexiades, M. N., & Sheldon, J. W. (Eds.). (1996). Selected guidelines for ethnobotanical research: a field manual.
4. Martin, G. (2004). Ethnobotany: A Methods Manual. Earthscan.
5. Liesner, R. (Compiler). Field Techniques Used by the Missouri Botanical Garden, with contributions from MO staff and others. (Available digitally; required for plant collection and herbarium preparation modules)

6. Latour, B. (1999). “Circulating Reference.” In Pandora’s Hope: Essays on the Reality of Science Studies (pp. 24–79). Harvard University Press.
7. Albuquerque, U. P., Nascimento, A. L. B., Soldati, G. T., Feitosa, I. S., Campos, J. L. A., Hurrell, J. A., … & Reyes-García, V. (2019). Ten important questions/issues for ethnobotanical research. Acta Botanica Brasilica, 33(2), 376-385.
8. Nair, P. R., Kumar, B. M., & Nair, V. D. (2021). An introduction to agroforestry: four decades of scientific developments (pp. 1-649). Cham: Springer. (Chapter 2)
9. Musante (DeWalt), K. (2014). Participant observation. Handbook of methods in cultural anthropology, 251-292.
10. Guest, G. (2014). Sampling and selecting participants in field research. Handbook of methods in cultural anthropology, 2(1), 215-250.
11. Gaoue, O. G., Coe, M. A., Bond, M., Hart, G., Seyler, B. C., & McMillen, H. (2017). Theories and major hypotheses in ethnobotany. Economic Botany, 71(3), 269-287.
12. Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative research in psychology, 3(2), 77-101.
13. Chambers, R. (2006). Participatory mapping and geographic information systems: Whose map? Who is empowered and who disempowered? Who gains and who loses?. The electronic journal of information systems in developing countries, 25(1), 1-11.
14. Pacini-Ketchabaw, V., Taylor, A., & Blaise, M. (2016). Decentring the human in multispecies ethnographies. In Posthuman research practices in education (pp. 149-167). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK.
15. Hoffman, B., & Gallaher, T. (2007). Importance indices in ethnobotany. Ethnobotany Research and applications, 5, 201-218.
16. Turner, N. J. (2014). Final Chapter (14) of Ancient Pathways, Ancestral Knowledge. McGill–Queen’s University Press.

17. Phillippi, J., & Lauderdale, J. (2018). A guide to field notes for qualitative research: Context and conversation. Qualitative health research, 28(3), 381-388.
18.  Atalay, Sonya. (2012). Community-Based Archaeology: Research with, by, and for Indigenous and Local Communities. Berkeley: University of California Press. (Chapter 3)
19. Brush, Stephen B. (1993). “Indigenous Knowledge of Biological Resources and Intellectual Property Rights: The Role of Anthropology.” American Anthropologist 95 (3): 653–671.
20. Walker, D., & Myrick, F. (2006). Grounded theory: An exploration of process and procedure. Qualitative health research, 16(4), 547-559.
21. Brondízio, E., Adams, R. T., & Fiorini, S. (2017). History and scope of environmental anthropology. In Routledge handbook of environmental anthropology (pp. 10-30). Routledge.
22. Höft, M., Barik, S. K., & Lykke, A. M. (1999). Quantitative ethnobotany: Application of multivariate and statistical analysis in ethnobotany. People and Plants working paper, 6.
23. Quinlan, M. (2005). Considerations for collecting freelists in the field: examples from ethobotany. Field methods, 17(3), 219-234.
24. Viveiros de Castro, E. (1996). Images of nature and society in Amazonian ethnology. Annual review of Anthropology, 25(1), 179-200.

• Independent Research Project: 40%
• Participation & Attendance: 10%
• Individual & Group Field Exercises & Reports: 20%
• Final Oral Presentation: 10%
• Seminar Engagement / Quiz: 10%
• Reflexive Journal (Meta-Journal & Field Notes): 10%

1. Foundations of Environmental Anthropology – Nature/culture, political ecology, multispecies ethnography.
2. Ethnobotany & Economic Botany – Classification systems, use-value studies, markets, agroforestry systems.
3. Landscape Ethnography – Place-based narratives, ecological histories, and biocultural landscapes.
4. Environmental Justice & Conservation Politics – Protected areas, tourism, land tenure, and resource access.
5. Decolonizing Research & Ethics – FPIC, intellectual property, benefit-sharing, Indigenous sovereignty.
6. Applied Ethnobotany – Biocultural revitalization, food sovereignty, and sustainable enterprise.
7. Data Transformation & Representation – Quantitative and qualitative methods.

Student Voices from the EAE (W-25) Field Course