| Forest & Landscape
80 % Department of Ecology 20 % | |||||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year | ||||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||||
| Course Level | MSc | ||||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination oral examination No aid allowed Description of Examination: The oral exam will analyse one or two key issues in a broader ethnobotanical context. 7-point scale, internal examiner | ||||||||||||
| Requirement For Attending Exam | Student must successfully complete 75% of the excercises in order to participate in the exam. | ||||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | Teaching is through blended learning that is combining classroom sessions with on-line excercises | ||||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 1 Week Structure: C | ||||||||||||
| Teaching Language | English | ||||||||||||
| Optional Prerequisites | 400022 Qualitative methods in agricultural development | ||||||||||||
| Restrictions | None | ||||||||||||
| Areas of Competence the Course Will Address | |||||||||||||
| Competences obtained within basic science: The course will provide students with knowledge and understanding of key areas within ethnobotanical research and development. Competences obtained within applied science: Students will be familiar with methods useful to work with local communities to learn about their knowledge and uses of the plant world. The course should equip participants with tools to explore solutions to plant conservation and development issues together with local people. Competences obtained within ethics and values: Awareness of ethics and values related to ethnobotanical studies. Ability to reflect on and encompass local and national cross cutting issue such as gender, culture, equity, environmental concern and intellectual property rights in a development context. | |||||||||||||
| Course Objectives | |||||||||||||
| The core concepts in ethnobotany are provided followed by advanced studies of people-plant relations focusing upon impacts of plant harvest and opportunities for sustainable use. The course intends to highlight the role that local people´s knowledge, institutions and cultural perspectives can play in resource management and conservation. | |||||||||||||
| Course Contents | |||||||||||||
| The course will introduce students to research at the interface between several disciplines, using methods derived from botany, anthropology, ecology, economy, and ethno-medicine. 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 resource, qualitative and quantitative approaches. Economics and ethnobotany; the value of forest products, surveys of community and household economies and local markets. Ethno-medicine, collecting plants for phytochemical analysis, ethics of searching for new plant products, and how to return knowledge to communities. The emphasis is on application of ethnobotany in conservation, sustainable use and community development. | |||||||||||||
| Teaching And Learning Methods | |||||||||||||
| 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. E-learning (e-modules) will be used to integrate literature studies and excercises including computer mediated conferencing. E-learning will be supported by on-line discussions in which students must participate. | |||||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||||
| Stipulated in "Areas of Competence the Course Will Address" | |||||||||||||
| Course Litterature | |||||||||||||
| Gary J. Martin. Ethnobotany. A methods manual. 2004. Selected chapters in: Guidelines for Ethnobotanical Research: A Field Manual. Edt. Miguel N. Alexiades. 1996. Selected chapters in: Anthony B. Cunningham. Applied ethnobotany. 2001. Selected scientific papers. Gary Martins manual is used as an easy introduction to the science of ethnobotany and practical field methods. Selected chapters from Alexiades are used for discussions on ethics and intellectual property right issues related to ethnobotanical research. Selected chapters from Cunningham are used to explain how local people can learn to assess the pressures on plant resources and what steps to take to ensure their continued availability. The books are supplemented by articles for advanced understanding of hypothesis, methods, analysis and results of ethnobotanical studies within plant use and management. | |||||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||||
| Ida Theilade, idat@life.ku.dk, Danish Centre for Forest, Landscape and Planning/Unit of Forestry, Phone: 35331742 | |||||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||||
| Study Committee NSN | |||||||||||||
| Course Scope | |||||||||||||
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