ENVI 306
Interpreting Nature and Society: The Study of Meaning, Values and Worldviews Fall 2009
Division II Writing Skills
This is not the current course catalog

This course investigates how we can study human meaning, values and worldviews in environmental studies. It does this via the theory and practice of qualitative research, a way of knowing that is strikingly different yet complementary to the methods used in the natural sciences. Qualitative research helps us interpret human thought and action, study the norms and practices of social institutions, and uncover the impact of humanity’s `geographic agency’ on wild and humanized landscapes. In so doing, it helps us apprehend the meaning of humanity’s troubled relationship with nature, while providing both causal and normative knowledge to improve this relationship. The practice of defining, identifying, collecting and interpreting qualitative data is stressed throughout the course.