“Biocultural diversity” is an elective course for the first year of the master program in Environmental Humanities.
Biocultural diversity is the diversity of life in all its manifestations: biological, cultural, and linguistic. This interdisciplinary course will give a profound overview of historical and current trends in areas closely related to biocultural diversity with a special focus on ethnobotany. Students will learn the basics of the interdisciplinary methodology applied to study biocultural diversity. The general framework of the course postulates the crucial importance of traditional and local ecological knowledge for the survival of humankind on the same rights as those of current scientific knowledge. The course will require active group work and discussions during the class and group presentations based on scientific and popular articles. Students will develop a critical reading habit and by the end of the course will present the draft of the research project related to the subject of the course.