Applied Ethnobotany
Course content
The course will introduce students to research at the interface between several disciplines, using methods derived from botany, anthropology, ecology, economy, ethno-medicine, climate and conservation science.
- Introduction to ethnobotany; definition, history and disciplines which contribute to an ethnobotanical study.
- Botanical methods; preparing a reference collection, botanical surveys.
- Anthropological methods; understanding local people, surveys and analytical tools.
- Ecology; describing the environment and the plant resources, qualitative and quantitative approaches.
- Economics and ethnobotany; the value of forest products, surveys of community and household economies and local markets.
- Food plants; the role of traditional food plants in subsistence, as income source and as emergency foods.
- Ethno-medicine; collecting plants for phytochemical analysis, ethics in searching for new plant products, and how to return knowledge to communities.
- Climate change; potential impact of climate change on peoples' access to plant resources.
- Conservation; the emphasis is on application of local knowledge and the role of local institutions in conservation, sustainable use and community development.
- Overall: the course will equip students with competences and skills to craft interdisciplinary solutions for a sustainable future
MSc Programme in Environment and Development
MSc Programme in Forest and Nature Management
MSc Programme in Global Environment and Development
The core concepts in ethnobotany are provided followed by
advanced studies of people-plant relations, focusing upon the
importance of wild and domesticated plants to local livelihoods and
opportunities for sustainable use of tropical natural resources.
The course highlights patterns in plant use and the role that local
peoples’ knowledge, institutions and cultural perspectives can play
in plant resource use, management and conservation.
After completing the course, the student should be able to:
Knowledge:
- Display overview of key areas within ethnobotanical research and describe main theories regarding traditional plant use and its relative importance to different user groups.
- Understand the role of ethnobotanical studies in community development, sustainable land management and development.
- Demonstrate awareness of ethics and values related to ethnobotanical studies.
- Reflect on ethnobotany in relation to local and national cross-cutting issues such as gender, culture, equity, environmental concern and intellectual property rights.
Skills:
- Familiar with methods useful to work with local communities to understand local classification and uses of plants, including plant properties.
- Select and apply ethnobotanical principles and tools to explore solutions to ecosystem and plant conservation together with local people.
- Define and formulate a research question and plan practical field work
- Apply scientific ethnobotanical methods in data collection and analyses.
- Communicate research aim(s) and results to the involved community.
Competencies:
- Critically examine ethnobotanical literature
- Transfer ethnobotanical methods to own research situation
- Work effectively in an interdisciplinary group to define a common research project and plan field work.
- Develop interdisciplinary solutions for a sustainable future
The course is composed of alternating lectures, exercises and discussions. The lectures give overview of theory, examples of application in practice and serve to link different disciplines. The focus is on critical discussions, including student presentations. To some extent external specialists will be used as lecturers. During the assignments work, the students work in groups. Exercises will demonstrate the application of different ethnobotanical methods and will be used to integrate literature studies and excercises.
- Methods and Techniques in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology 2014 by Ulysses Paulino Albuquerque Reinaldo Farias Paiva de Lucena Luiz Vital Fernandes Cruz da Cunha Rômulo Romeu Nóbrega Alves. Springer. Selected book chapters.
Methods and Techniques in Ethnobiology and Ethnoecology 2014 serves
as an introduction to disciplin of ethnobotany and practical field
methods.
The book is supplemented by articles for advanced understanding of
hypothesis, methods, analysis and results of ethnobotanical studies
within plant use, management, and
conservation.
The course is designed for students from a broad range of
disciplines; i.e. biology, anthropology, landscape architecture,
nature management, environmental development, pharmacology, etc.
The course gives an introduction to ethnobotany within an applied
context. No prior courses are required
Academic qualifications equivalent to a BSc degree is
recommended.
Students receive written and oral feed-back (collective) at different stages of their field project, i.e. synopsis, formulation of objective and research questions, choice of methods, and poster presentation of results.
Students receive oral feedback (individual) on their presentation of a scientific paper.
Students and teachers engage in discussions on topics and development of field projects, including the feasibility of potential methods.
- ECTS
- 7,5 ECTS
- Type of assessment
-
Oral examination, 30 minutes (no preparation time)Written assignment, made during the block
- Type of assessment details
- The exam is composed of two parts that are assessed separately:
1. A group poster, which is a result of the group’s own project, based on their design of fieldwork, empirical data collection, and analysis of data. The poster must be fully individualized so that every part of the assignment can be attributed to one specific student in the group. The poster is submitted to the course coordinator by the group and the assessment of the individual student’s contribution counts 25% of the student’s grade.
2. An individual oral examination without preparation, where the student is asked to analyse one or two key issues in a broader ethnobotanical context. The assessment of the students’ performance counts 75% of the student’s grade.
Students must pass each of the two parts of the exam separately, i.e., each with the minimum grade 02. - Aid
- Only certain aids allowed (see description below)
Written assignment: All aids allowed.
Oral exam: No aids allowed. Written notes may be used for the oral exam
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
Several internal examiners
- Re-exam
-
As the ordinary exam.
A written exam part (a poster) should be uploaded not later than 7 days before the scheduled oral exam.
If a written exam has been handed in and passed for the ordinary exam, the re-exam will be only the oral part.
If all group members fail a group submission, the group must submit a new group assignment. If only one group member fails, the group member must submit a new individual assignment.
Criteria for exam assessment
Evaluation is based on student performance in relation to intended learning outcome of the course (see learning outcome).
Single subject courses (day)
- Category
- Hours
- Lectures
- 35
- Preparation
- 89,5
- Practical exercises
- 35
- Excursions
- 10
- Guidance
- 6
- Exam
- 30,5
- English
- 206,0
Kursusinformation
- Language
- English
- Course number
- NIGK24014U
- ECTS
- 7,5 ECTS
- Programme level
- Full Degree Master
- Duration
-
1 block
- Placement
- Block 1
- Schedulegroup
-
A
- Capacity
- 40
The number of places might be reduced if you register in the late-registration period (BSc and MSc) or as a credit or single subject student. - Studyboard
- Study Board of Natural Resources, Environment and Animal Science
Contracting department
- Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Science
Course Coordinators
- Ida Theilade
(4-6b666376426b6970306d7730666d)
Ecology, anthropology, indigenous peoples, participation, conservation. - Lars Schmidt
(3-747b6b48716f7636737d366c73)
Botany, Ecology, forest products, NTFPs, socio-economy, agroforestry, conservation.
Teacher
Mathilde Juul Østergaard mjo@ign.ku.dk
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