01:198:111 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Whale Wars, Ethnocentrism, World Wide Fund For Nature
7 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Introduction to Human Ecology “Cree Hunters”
11:374:101:01-08 “Sharkcallers of Kontu”
Spring, 2018 “Survival in the High North”
Film Paper #1
In this first third of the course you will be doing a film paper or presenting and writing about Changes in
the Land or Savages. If you are doing a film paper, you may address any question below, part of any question, a
synthesis of two questions or their parts, or you can make up, justify and answer your own question. Whatever your
choice, be sure to clearly indicate the subject of your essay. Film papers are expected to be approximately two to
three pages of conventional, double-spaced type. You should also use the questions below as guides for what to
look for in the films and as possible test items. If you are unclear in any way about the assignment, feel free to ask
us about it. Due dates are by recitation section.
1. The Cree have gone to great lengths to preserve their culture as much as possible. Our culture changes much
more quickly. How would you describe the American view of cultural preservation? Why? Give some examples to
support your characterization. You might include your own family background here as an example – how large or
small a role does your cultural heritage play in your life? How do you think the differences in attitude towards
cultural preservation between the Cree and the U.S. affect each society’s relationship with its environment? Why?
What are the implications of your conclusion?
2. Some argue that a society must have good relations among its human members in order to have a good
relationship with the environment. The Cree have a very different sense of community than Americans do.
Compare the Cree and our society in terms of each one’s sense of community and its relationship with the
environment. Or, if you prefer, make the comparison to Rutgers – how might you describe the sense of community
here and our relationship with our environment? Does your comparison support or disagree with the observation
about the correlation between the two? Why? Give some specific examples to illustrate your view.
3. If, as a budding human ecologist, you were offered the opportunity to spend a year in the bush with the Cree – a
new and unique Rutgers Study Abroad program, how interested would you be in doing so? What would the major
pros and cons be for your growth and experience? What does your answer imply about your relationship with the
environment?.
4. In “Sharkcallers” we see how their major institutions – family, education, media, economics, politics, and
religion – have changed over time and have affected both their culture and their relationship with the environment.
Changes in which institution(s) do you think was (were) most important in affecting their traditional culture? Why –
offer evidence from the film? In general, which institution(s) do you think is (are) the most important in influencing
our society’s relationship with our environment? Why? How do your selections compare and what might you
deduce from your choices?
5. One of the older sharkcallers says that they have an oral history and don’t have things “written down” as
Westerners do. How would our lives be different if we did not have a written history? Describe some key aspects of
what our world would like without our history being “written down”. Since we take writing for granted, have you
ever thought about its importance before? Now that you have, what do you think? What else might we take for
granted that is important to our way of life?
6. Today sharkcalling barely survives - there are only a few sharkcallers left. Given that sharkcalling has been
practiced for centuries, on the basis of the film, do you think that the loss of sharkcalling is not only significant to
the Kontu, but to all of us? If so, why, how, and to what extent? If not, why not?
7. Go to the website of Sea Shepherd or Greenpeace and see what you find there about sealing and whaling. If you
have happened to see “Whale Wars” on the Animal Planet network, you may include that in your comments. Now
go to the websites of 2 other environmental groups (e.g., World Wildlife Fund, Sierra Club, Audubon Society) and
see what, if anything they have about sealing and whaling. How do the groups compare, both about these two
specific issues and more generally? What do you make of this comparison? Does it affect your view of the
filmmaker’s depiction of Sea Shepherd and Greenpeace? If so, how? If not, why not?
47
01:198:111 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
47 documents
Document Summary
In this first third of the course you will be doing a film paper or presenting and writing about changes in the land or savages. If you are doing a film paper, you may address any question below, part of any question, a synthesis of two questions or their parts, or you can make up, justify and answer your own question. Whatever your choice, be sure to clearly indicate the subject of your essay. Film papers are expected to be approximately two to three pages of conventional, double-spaced type. You should also use the questions below as guides for what to look for in the films and as possible test items. If you are unclear in any way about the assignment, feel free to ask us about it. Due dates are by recitation section: the cree have gone to great lengths to preserve their culture as much as possible.
