Overview

Calendar
Syllabus

Sheet 1: Calendar
Day Date Fixed Ev Area Topic
Thu 01/07/10
Intro 1. Introduction to Ethnobotany. Cyanobacteria. Lee Ling: Chapter one Balick: Chapter one
Tues 01/12/10 Add end Botany 2. SVP hike. Outdoor. Primitive and less complex plants field hike: Monilophyta: Mosses, lycopodium, ferns WET MUDDY STEEP. Lee Ling: Chapter two Balick: Chapter eight 217 – 251
Thurs 01/14/10
Ethnogarden Outdoor. Finding the plants: Tall razor grass will cut your legs and hands. Merremia peltata will stain your clothes. Machetes will be used. Sweaty. Hot. Wet. Muddy. 1. Tour of the garden as a group to learn the locations of the plants in the garden and to cover the garden cleaning ground rules. 2.Clean-up around the plants. 3. Learn the local and Latin names of the plants.
Tues 01/19/10
Botany Preparation for group presentations on cyanobacteria, mosses, monilophytes.
Thurs 01/21/10 Class lists Botany Group presentations cyanobacteria, mosses (bryophytes), monilophytes.
Tues 01/26/10
Ethnography 3. Healing plants walk. Outdoor field trip. Plants that heal us. Traditional and medicinal plants of Pohnpei garden at Pohnpei state campus. Lee Ling: Chapter three Balick: Chapter seven
Thurs 01/28/10 Grad app Botany Plant collecting process. Herbarium specimens. Outdoor: a walk through the living herbarium.
Tues 02/02/10
Ethnography Healing plant individual presentations
Thurs 02/04/10
Ethnography Healing plant individual presentations
Tues 02/09/10

Test One
Thurs 02/11/10
Botany 4. Outdoor field trip: Gymnosperms, plants with economic value. Pohnpei Pwunso Kolonia botanic garden road trip and walk. Lee Ling: Chapter four Balick: page 220
Tues 02/16/10
Botany Preparation for gymnosperm presentations. Determine food groups food presentations.
Thurs 02/18/10
Botany Group presentations: gymnosperms
Tues 02/23/10
Ethnography 5. Haruki food plants walk. Outdoor: Plants that feed us. Planning session for food presentations. A walk and talk on campus. Lee Ling: Chapter five Balick: Chapters two, three, four, five
Thurs 02/25/10
Ethnography Plants as food: Each cultural group brings a traditional food to share. Group presentation with food.
Tues 03/02/10
Ethnogarden Outdoor: Cleaning up the garden! A chance to learn the plants. Sweaty. Hot. Wet. Muddy.
Thurs 03/04/10 Middef Ethnography 6. Outdoor field walk: Angiosperms: Vegetative morphology A walk from the ethnobotanical garden to the oahs: the family with the largest leaves on the planet. Lee Ling: Chapter six Balick: Chapter eight pages 251 – 512
Tues 03/09/10
Ethnography 7. Material culture: Plants that shelter us, transport us, and decorate our bodies, homes, and gardens. Location to be determined and announced. Lee Ling: Chapter seven Balick: Chapter eight pages 228, 229, 255, 265, 291, 293, 294, 304, 305, 322, 326, 327, 346, 347, 350, 351, 398, 408, 429, 443, 476, 481, 482, 484
Thurs 03/11/10
Ethnography Traditional materials experience: thatching Balick: Pages 263, 265, 267, 268
Tues 03/16/10
Ethnography Material culture individual presentations
Thurs 03/18/10
Ethnography Material culture individual presentations
Tues 03/23/10
Ethnogarden Outdoor: Ohigan. Prevention of ghost diseases by honoring the dead through respectful cleaning of a cemetery. Sweaty. Hot. Wet. Muddy.
Thurs 03/25/10

Test two
Tues 03/30/10

Founding day observed
Thurs 04/01/10

Maundy Thursday
Tues 04/06/10
Botany 8. Outdoor field walk: Angiosperms: Floral morphology. Sketch flowers. Floral formulas. Floral SVG handout. [Reminder: one week to brint a fruit to eat] [Share a plant story in a week and a half] Lee Ling: Chapter eight
Thurs 04/08/10
Botany 9. Let 'em eat fruit! Bring an edible fruit to share with the class. Angiosperms: fruits. The third morphological component in the trio leaves, flowers, and fruit. Lee Ling: Chapter nine
Tues 04/13/10
Ethnography Share a story about a plant. The story could be a legend, a personal experience where a plant played an central role, or the story of the history of how plant came to your island. Any kind of plant story that can be shared. Session is off-the record.
Thurs 04/15/10
Ethnography 10. Plants that entertain us. Memes and Areca catechu. Entering other worlds lecture: Five types of psychoactive substances. Lee Ling: Chapter ten Balick: Chapter six
Tues 04/20/10
Ethnography Piper methysticum: Chemistry and Uses, Legends Balick: Chapter six Lee Ling: Sakau ceremony purposes
Thurs 04/22/10
Ethnography Field Trip: Kava cultural ceremony
Tues 04/27/10
Ethnogarden Outdoor: Clidemia hirta (riahpen rot) pulling exercise. Extremely muddy, very wet, itchy. Coconut oil a must. Gloves recommended!
Thurs 04/29/10
Ethnogarden Outdoor work. Sweaty. Hot. Wet. Muddy Ethnobotanical garden: Cleaning the garden and reviewing for the final.
Mon 05/03/10
Ethnobotany 4:20 to 6:20 A field practical final in the ethnobotanical garden identifying the plants and their uses.

Sheet 2: Syllabus
Botanic studies Ethnographic experiences
1. Most primitive, least evolved: cyanobacteria [algae] More complex, more evolved 2. Primitive plants Mosses: spore capsules, spores, sperm, eggs Monilophytes lycopodium: cones, spores, sperm, eggs ferns: sori, spores, sperm, eggs 4. Seeded non-flowering plants (cone bearing plants): gymnosperms: cones, pollen, naked seeds Most complex, 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.
Course notes
Attendance policy: Five absences results in withdrawal from the course. A late is one third of an absence. Thus any combination of absences and lates that adds to five will result in withdrawal. For example, fifteen lates would result in withdrawal. If the fifth absence is incurred after the last day to withdraw, then the fifth absence results in failure to pass the class. Attendance and participation are essential to success in this class. Come to class prepared with your "yam, sakau, and pig" (having read the text and prepared to take notes and 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, 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.
Do not write on the tables, open the taps, or otherwise touch the equipment in the laboratory unless so instructed. Please do not carve your names into anything.
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.
Ethnobotanical individual presentations include an individual oral presentation.
Healing plants presentation: bring the plant. Material culture: bring the item.
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.
Instructor: Dana Lee Ling Work phone: 320-2480 Extension 228. Home phone: 320-2962. Cell: 922-1858 Email: dleeling@comfsm.fm Social media connections: http://www.facebook.com/danaleeling | http://danaleeling.blogspot.com