HEN633 Studying Local Rural Systems

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2018
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 5 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Mikuláš Černík (lecturer)
Mgr. Eva Fraňková, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Dipl. Ing. Willi Haas (lecturer), doc. Mgr. Bohuslav Binka, Ph.D. (deputy)
Dr. Simron Jit Singh (lecturer), doc. Mgr. Bohuslav Binka, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Bohuslav Binka, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Ing. Veronika Išová
Supplier department: Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Prerequisites
SOUHLAS
upper-intermediate English language skills
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.

The capacity limit for the course is 3 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/3, only registered: 0/3
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The course aims to provide insights and methodological training in studying local communities through the use of anthropological and social ecological field methods, and interpret the results within the framework of sustainability and development studies. Taking a systems perspective, the students are encouraged to look at rural systems as coupled socio-ecological systems (SES) with material, energy, land, labour and technology as relevant variables.
Syllabus
  • During the first week of the spring semester there will be an information meeting for all the students registered for the course. It takes place on Thursday, February 22nd 18:45 in U32. If there are more than 3 students registered in the course, we will decide together who is going to take part (hence, if you are interested in the course, please do register it even if the limit of 3 is already filled up - usually some people drop off once the full course information is provided and the dates are settled).
  • The course itself begins with a one day pre-seminar in March (23rd) at the Institute of Social Ecology in Vienna with an overview of the theoretical and operational framework of social ecology and societal metabolism.
  • The actual seminar takes place as a 5-day block in May (14th - 18th) in a culturally challenging environment of Třeboňsko (Františkov village, near Třeboň, Czech Republic) where further inputs are given and actual field work is undertaken. Here we learn and experience how to establish contact, build rapport and interact in a culturally sensitive way. We also learn to design innovative field methods of generating data that provides relevant information on the functioning of local rural systems such as material and energy flows, time use, land-use, and to estimate quantities of society’s stocks such as population, livestock, land, and artefacts. The seminar concludes with reflection on our experiences and results, and makes an attempt to interpret them within the framework of sustainability and development interventions.
  • Main topics: • Material and energy flow analysis • Land use • Functional time use analysis • Institutional aspects
Literature
    required literature
  • • 3 – 5 shorter scientific articles on social metabolism, land use, Třeboňsko Biosphere reserve, small-scale farming etc., will be specified and provided in March
  • • Singh, S.J. et al. (2010) Local studies manual. A researcher’s guide for investigating the social metabolism of local rural systems. Social Ecology Working Paper, Vienna. Available at http://www.uni-klu.ac.at/socec/downloads/WP120_Web.pdf (10.2.2013)
Teaching methods
Interactive block seminar: inputs, role plays, field work, analysis and writing in small groups. The course is designed for students interested in human-environment relations, anthropological and socio-ecological field methods, local sustainability and development paradigms from backgrounds such as sociology, anthropology, ecology, international development and related disciplines.
Assessment methods
Participation during the entire seminar (including the pre-seminar), field work, brief presentation of results and writing a short assignment in groups on the outcome and analysis of the field research.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: in blocks.
Information on course enrolment limitations: Předmět je určen pouze studentům mateřských oborů.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2018, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2018/HEN633