Archive for April, 2007

Environmental Degradation in Ancient Greece and the Myth of a Golden Age

dnorris10 April 17th, 2007

Curtis Runnels, professor of archaeology at Boston University, will present “Environmental Degradation in Ancient Greece and the Myth of a Golden Age” on Monday, April 16, at The College of Wooster. The lecture, which is free and open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. in Lean Lecture Room of Wishart Hall (303 E. University St.).

Research by archaeologists and geomorphologists working in southern Greece has brought to light compelling evidence for the destructive activities of humans over the past 8,000 years. Deforestation and sometimes catastrophic soil erosion caused by expanding agricultural practices and growing human populations began in surprisingly early times and continued through classical antiquity, challenging the concept that pre-industrial peoples were better stewards of the natural environment than were peoples in later industrial western societies.

Runnels’ lecture is sponsored by Wooster’s Environmental Action and Analysis Program, the Program in Archaeology, the Cultural Events Committee, the Archaeology Student Colloquium, the Local Society of the Archaeological Institute of America, and the local chapter of Lambda Alpha national honorary society in anthropology. There will be an open reception with beverages and snacks following the presentation in the foyer outside the lecture room.

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Climate Change: Ethics vs. Economics

dnorris10 April 13th, 2007

Mark Sagoff, a Pew Scholar in Conservation and the Environment at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, as well as president of the International Society of Environmental Ethics and a member of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Science Advisory Board, will present “Climate Change: Ethics vs. Economics” on Wednesday, April 11, at The College of Wooster. The lecture, which is part of the Global Climate Change Symposium, begins at 7:30 p.m. in Lean Lecture Room of Wishart Hall (303 E. University). A dessert reception will precede the event at 7 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.

Sagoff approaches environmental problems as a gadfly who challenges cherished preconceptions and stirs up controversy. Throughout his career he has engaged in interdisciplinary research and published widely in journals of philosophy, law, economics, and public policy, including Atlantic Monthly, Amicus Journal, Nature Conservancy, and Orion. His two recent books with Cambridge University Press: Price, Principle, and the Environment (2004) and The Economy of the Earth: Philosophy, Law, and the Environment (Second Edition, forthcoming 2007), provide a critical examination of the view that a price can be put upon nature and a healthy environment. He argues that we need to preserve nature because of its beauty and aesthetic value. Despite his criticisms of economics, he has also argued that economic analysis can provide insight, which can help solve environmental problems.

Sagoff, who is particularly effective at bringing a technical analysis of an issue to a general audience, has also taught at Princeton University, the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and Cornell University. In addition, he has received major grants from several foundations, including the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.

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To Love, Honor, and Obey? Marriage Choice in Two Brazilian Slave Societies

dnorris10 April 13th, 2007

Katie Holt, assistant professor of history at The College of Wooster, will present “To Love, Honor, and Obey? Marriage Choice in Two Brazilian Slave Societies.” at the final Faculty at Large lecture of the spring semester on Tuesday, April 10. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, begins at 11 a.m. in Room 009 of Severance (Chemistry) Hall (943 College Mall).

The permeable borders of Brazilian enslavement - where slaves lived and worked alongside free people, and even themselves became free and purchased slaves of their own - fostered interaction and relationships between people who may differ by race but shared other formative experiences. Holt’s work contributes to the new scholarship from Brazil emphasizing the wide range of family types present in 19th century society, and the complex social relationships that linked people living in the same community across boundaries of race and gender.

“Such comparative studies have the potential to encourage new ways of thinking about the construction of race and gender throughout Atlantic slave societies,” says Holt. “Despite their shared legal and religious traditions, individuals in these two Brazilian communities developed very different notions of the significance of marriage and how to choose a spouse.

“My talk will also examine the wide range of household arrangements found in Bahia and Sabará,” adds Holt. “Throughout Brazil, sexual encounters, within and outside of marriage, consensual and forced, commonly transcended racial divisions. The greater racial fluidity in Sabará led to a higher incidence of formal marriages that crossed color lines. This flexibility in partner selection did not apply to slaves, however; the smaller holding sizes in Sabará dramatically reduced marriage candidates for slaves who were rarely permitted to enter into formal marriage with the slaves of a different master. Despite this obstacle, and an equally high sex imbalance in the early years of the century, slaves in Sabará were more than twice as likely to marry as those in Bahia, suggesting a greater access to the protections - albeit limited - afforded to slave families headed by legally married couples.”

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