Study/discussion questions | HumCore week 4 | Spring 2011

Prof. Laura Mitchell | mitchell@uci.edu

Learning objectives for the unit

By the end of week 6, students should be able substantiate or refute the following claims by using specific empirical evidence drawn from the assigned reading.

· There are multiple ways for human societies to understand “nature.”

· The differentiation between humans and the natural world—and understandings of nature—are culturally constructed and historically specific.

· Western science is one among many ways of approaching/understanding nature, and not a universal truth.

· Contested ideas about nature—including appropriate uses of natural resources and definitions of human-nature connections—were a significant terrain of colonial interactions.

Students should also be able to describe how historians ask questions and gather evidence to construct answers.

Questions for Week 1

· What is the difference between chronology and history?

· What date can serve as a useful starting point for South African history? What is at stake in choosing one date rather than another?

· What are significant characteristics of the relationship between settlers and Khoisan in colonial South Africa? Explain reasons for disputes between Khoisan and settlers over land and other resources.

· What available sources can give us insight into Khoisan cosmology? What are the challenges to working with those sources? What can they tell us about Khoisan cosmology?

· What available sources can give us insight into Christian cosmology? What are the challenges to working with those sources? What can they tell us about Christian cosmology?

· What are some points of intersection between Khoisan and Christian understandings of cosmology and the place of humans in the world? What understandings of nature do Christian and Khoisan world views share? What are some points of difference?

Looking Ahead: A question to think about for next week:

· Why in the context of eighteenth-century colonial interactions was it difficult for settlers and Khoisan to see the commonalities in their understandings of nature? Why were the differences in their understanding of nature significant?