History, Geology & Science   

What changes when we begin to understand ourselves not as separate from the natural world, but as part of it?

How might our relationships with place, community, and the more-than-human world shape our health, our choices, and our sense of belonging? And what might become possible when we begin paying closer attention to those relationships?

Over the course of three weeks, meeting twice each week, this course will explore the foundations and practices of Ecopsychology, a transdisciplinary field concerned with the relationship between human well-being and the living world. We will explore the connections between mind, body, community, and our larger ecological home by incorporating the perspectives of authors and activists such as Joanna Macy, Robert Greenway, Paul Shepard, Robin Walle-Kimmerer, and others. Our main touchstone will be three essays from the book Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind.

In addition to readings and discussion, we’ll experiment with what these ideas look and feel like in practice. Our time together will include conversation, movement, meditation, time outdoors, personal reflection, and community-building. We’ll spend time in our local forests, pay attention to the places we already inhabit, and explore how our relationship with the natural world might inform the way we care for ourselves, one another, and the communities we belong to.

Reading and brief homework assignments will offer opportunities to follow your own curiosity and bring what we are exploring into your everyday life. 
 

Student Learning Outcomes:

By the end of this course, students will have the opportunity to develop:

• A deeper understanding of how identity, well-being, and environment are interconnected. 
• Greater curiosity, compassion, and appreciation for both human and more-than-human life.
• Practical skills for supporting personal well-being, relationships, community connection, and ecological awareness.
• More confidence in identifying meaningful ways to participate in the care of their communities and the living world.
• A set of practices that can continue beyond the course and be integrated into everyday life.
   

Would you like to fall in love again with life, the world, and everything? Rumi's mystical poetry will set your heart and soul on fire.

Explore the life and poetry of the great Sufi mystic and poet Mawlana Jalal ad-Din Rumi. The course will explore the themes, subject matter, and symbolism of Rumi’s poetry and make comparisons with similar poetic expressions in Zen Buddhism and Daoism.

An archaeological survey of human evolution and ancient culture from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic Revolution.

Study human evolution from the first primates 65 million years ago (Mya) to the earliest hominoids and hominids (23 - 8 Mya), and through to the emergence of Homo sapiens (about 400,000 - 200,000 ya). We will examine human evolution from an archaeological perspective using comparative anatomy and the material culture that early humans left behind like stone tools and weapons, as well as burials and dwellings. We will focus on the Paleolithic and Neolithic ages (2.6 Mya - 4,500 ya).

Student Learning Outcomes:

1. Trace human evolution from the first primates to Homo sapiens.
2. Compare and contrast the Paleolithic and Neolithic periods with an emphasis on material culture, including food gathering practices, extinction of much of much the megafauna during the Ice Age, development of tools, art, and the emergence of religion.
3. Discuss the anthropological concept of "culture" and the essential characteristics of culture including whether chimps and bonobos meet the minimal qualifications for having culture.