NORTHERN PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT STUDIES (NPDS) 401 - LECTURE 01

SUSTAINABILITY AND HUMAN ECOLOGY IN THE CIRCUMPOLAR ARCTIC

FALL 2008

MONDAYS: 13:00 - 15:50 SOCIAL SCIENCE A 010

 

Instructor:	Dr. C. Apentiik
Office Location:	Social Science Building, Room 252
Office Phone:	(403) 220-3396
E-Mail:	rapentii@ucalgary.ca
Office Hours:	Tuesday 13:00 - 14:00 or by appointment

Additional information on the course will be posted on Blackboard

Course Description

This seminar course provides an interdisciplinary overview of the approaches to and history of circumplar artic resource management regimes. Specifically, the course seeks to provide students with a holistic perspective on humans' interaction with their environment in the Circumpolar Arctic within the contexts of equity and sustainability.

The goal will be to allow students think through some of the theoretical and practical implications of equity and sustainability, and to apply these concepts in the context of development and resource management in the Circumpolar Arctic. Students are strongly urged to use this opportunity to think "outside the box," to open their minds to the possibility that no one theoretical position has all the answers to development, and to consider new ways of conceptualizing and addressing the inter-relationships and synthesizing the complex relationship between humans and their environments in the Circumpolar Arctic.

OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE

1.          To provide students with the tools and the forum to develop critical viewpoint on, and to engage in an interdisciplinary analysis of resource management regimes and human ecology of the Circumpolar Arctic.

2.          To help students develop a holistic understanding of the inter-relationships between humans and their environments

Textbooks and Readings:

The required books are available from the University of Calgary Bookstore:

1.     Bone, Robert M. 2003. The Geography of the Canadian North. Toronto, Oxford Univ. Press.

2.     David G. Anderson and Mark Nuttal 2004. Cultivating the Arctic Landscape: Knowing and Managing Animals in the Circumpolar Arctic. Berghahn Books Press

3.     Additional readings will be available on electronic reserve for the course.

ASSIGNMENTS AND EVALUATION

Midterm exam                         25% (October 27)

Book Review                          15% (DUE: November 03, in class)

Participation                            15% (On-going)

Final Paper                              25% (DUE: 12 December 1, in class)

Group Presentation                        20% (November 24 & December)

All components of the course must be completed in order to pass.  At the discretion of the instructor, assignments submitted after the deadline may be penalized with the loss of a grade (e.g.: A- to B+) for each day late.

It is the student's responsibility to keep a copy of each submitted assignment.
Note: Please hand in your essays directly to your tutor or instructor if possible. If it is not possible to do so, a daytime drop box is available in SS110; a date stamp is provided for your use. A night drop box is also available for after-hours submission. Assignments will be removed the following morning, stamped with the previous day's date, and placed in the instructor's mailbox.

Registrar-scheduled Final Examination:  NO

Please note: If your class is held in the evening, the Registrar's Office will make every attempt to schedule the final exam during the evening; however, there is NO guarantee that the exam will NOT be scheduled during the day.

Policy for Late Assignments

Assignments submitted after the deadline may be penalized with the loss of a grade (e.g.: A- to B+) for each day late.

Writing Skills Statement

Faculty policy directs that all written assignments (including, although to a lesser extent, written exam responses) will be assessed at least partly on writing skills. For details see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/info. Writing skills include not only surface correctness (grammar, punctuation, sentence structure, etc) but also general clarity and organization. Research papers must be properly documented.

If you need help with your writing, you may use the Writing Centre.  Visit the website for more details: www.efwr.ucalgary.ca

Grading System

The following grading system is used in the Faculty of Communication and Culture:

(Revised, effective September 2008)

 

	Grading Scale
A+	96-100
A	90-95.99
A -	85-89.99
B+	80-84.99
B	75-79.99
B-	70-74.99
C+	65-69.99
C	60-64.99
C-	55-59.99
D+	53-54.99
D	50-52.99
F	0-49

 

Where a grade on a particular assignment is expressed as a letter grade, it will normally be converted to a number using the midpoint of the scale.  That is, A- would be converted to 87.5 for calculation purposes.  F will be converted to zero.

Plagiarism

Using any source whatsoever without clearly documenting it is a serious academic offense. Consequences include failure on the assignment, failure in the course and possibly suspension or expulsion from the university.

You must document not only direct quotations but also paraphrases and ideas where they appear in your text. A reference list at the end is insufficient by itself. Readers must be able to tell exactly where your words and ideas end and other people's words and ideas begin. This includes assignments submitted in non-traditional formats such as Web pages or visual media, and material taken from such sources.

Please consult your instructor or the Writing Centre (SS 106, efwr.ucalgary.ca) if you have any questions regarding how to document sources.

Students with Disabilities

If you are a student with a disability who may require academic accommodation, it is your responsibility to register with the Disability Resource Centre (220-8237) and discuss your needs with your instructor no later than fourteen (14) days after the start of the course.

Students' Union

For details about the current Students' Union contacts for the Faculty of Communication and Culture see www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/su

"SAFEWALK" Program -- 220-5333

Campus Security will escort individuals day or night -- call 220-5333 for assistance. Use any campus phone, emergency phone or the yellow phone located at most parking lot booths.

Ethics

Whenever you perform research with human participants (i.e. surveys, interviews, observation) as part of your university studies, you are responsible for following university research ethics guidelines.  Your instructor must review and approve of your research plans and supervise your research.  For more information about your research ethics responsibilities, see

The Faculty of Communication and Culture Research Ethics site: http://www.comcul.ucalgary.ca/ethics

or the University of Calgary Research Ethics site: http://www.ucalgary.ca/research/compliance/ethics/info/undergrad/

Schedule of Lectures and Readings

To be handed out in class and posted on Blackboard