| Botanic studies | Ethnographic experiences |
|---|---|
|
1. Most primitive, least evolved: cyanobacteria More complex, more evolved 2. Primitive plants: Mosses: spore capsules, spores, sperm, eggs; Monilophytes [ferns]: sori, spores, sperm, eggs; Lycophytes: cones, spores, sperm, eggs 4. Seeded non-flowering plants: Gymnosperms: cones, pollen, naked seeds Most complex, most evolved: Seeded flowering plants (Angiosperms): 6. vegetative morphology: leaf shapes 8. floral morphology: flower shapes 9. fruits |
3. Healing plants: Plants that heal us 5. Food plants: Plants that feed us 7. Material culture plants: Plants that provide shelter, transportation, clothing, and that decorate our bodies, homes, and gardens 10. Sacred plants: Plants that entertain, inspirit,and enrapture us,plants that inspire legends. |
❧ Attendance policy: Students who have more than four unexcused absences prior to the last day to withdraw with a W will be withdrawn from the course by the instructor. Exceeding four unexcused absences after the last day to withdraw with a W can result in failure of the course. Absences for medical or academic reasons can be excused by a note from a medical official or a faculty sponsor.
❧ Attendance and participation are important in this class. The class is in part a set of shared experiences. Being absent not only has a negative impact on your own learning, being absent has a negative impact on the social cohesion of the class as a whole. This is a participatory class.
❧ Come to class prepared with your "yam, sakau, and pig" (having read the text, prepared to take notes, and ready to learn or give a presentation) and you will do well. If you are absent or unprepared, then your "title" may get "jumped" (your grade may be negatively affected). This class is all about actively being here.
❧ Field trips, hikes, and outings: Rain or shine, on and off trail. Hikes over difficult, steep, muddy, and slippery terrain are conducted. Outdoor work days are in pouring rain or hot sun and involve sharp objects such as machetes. Plants grow where they want to, not where it is convenient for us. Plant knowledge gained on hikes is testable material: Ethnobotany is a listen, watch, experience, do, and learn field!
❧ Office Hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday afternoons, or by appointment or walk in.
❧ No betelnut chewing in class due to college regulations. No food, drink, or gum in the science laboratories.
❧ Assessment: Tests and examinations include coverage of student learning outcomes on outline. Some outcomes are assessed via presentations. Grade is based on participation in course activities, performing presentations, and achievement on tests. Being here and being an active participant are crucial to success in this course.
❧ Ethnographic individual presentations are oral presentations to the class. Healing plants presentation: bring the plant. Material culture: bring the item. Fruit: bring the fruit. Some students will have to work with the instructor to find suitable material for presentations.
❧ The presentation of a traditional food is done as a group. Each culture presents a single food, bringing that food to share with the class.
❧ Work phone: 320-2480 Extension 228. Cell: 922-1858 Home phone: 320-2962. Email: dleeling@comfsm.fm
Program learning outcomes:
ANR 2 Demonstrate basic competencies in the management of land resources and food production.
GE 3.4 Define and explain the concepts, principles, and theories of a field of science.
GE 4.2 Demonstrate knowledge of the major cultural issues of a person's own culture as well as other cultures.
MicroSt 2 Demonstrate proficiency in the geographical, historical, and cultural literacy of the Micronesian region.
Course learning outcomes:
1. Identify local plants, their reproductive strategies, and morphology.
1.1 Identify local plants by local and scientific names.
1.2 Compare and contrast the distinguishing reproductive characteristics of different phyla of plants including mosses, seedless vascular plants, gymnosperms, and angiosperms.
1.3 Label the key morphological features of the different phyla of plants including mosses, seedless vascular plants, gymnosperms, and angiosperms including the morphology of the reproductive structures.
2. Communicate and describe the cultural use of local plants for healing, as food, as raw materials, and in traditional social contexts.
2.1 Communicate and describe the healing uses of local plants and the cultural contexts in which that healing occurs.
2.2 Communicate and describe the food uses of local plants and describe the production process.
2.3 Communicate and describe the use of plants for transportation, for shelter, and in other material culture applications.
2.4 Describe the use, role, and importance of psychoactive plants within their traditional ceremonial cultural contexts.
Essay on material culture
Many traditional cultures, including those of Micronesia, have generally abandoned their traditional material cultural practices.
Traditional homes have given way to cement cinder block houses, canoes have been replaced by fiberglass outboard motor boats
and airplanes, and few young Micronesians tattoo themselves from head to foot.
While people hold on to their language, their traditional medicinal plants, and their traditional foods,
material culture seems to be intentionally jettisoned.
Young men wear stylish closed foot athletic shoes, women adopt western clothing, and everyone wears sunglasses.
Rope (pwehl) making has been replaced by rope buying at a hardware store.
Traditional roofs are produced only for special cultural huts or tourist hotels,
people live under corrugated steel or cement roofs.
Of all the areas we study during the term, the loss of knowledge and the extent of the adoption of foreign ways is most evident
in material culture.
As none of the students come to class in ancient traditional wear, or walk to the college from town,
arguing that material culture is important would be unsupported by reality.
The daily choices made by Micronesians indicate that material culture is being abandoned and forgotten.
Issues to address in your essay