Social-Ecological Systems Working Group

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The Social-Ecological Systems (SES) working group brings together students and faculty from anthropology and other departments interested in social-ecological systems (broadly defined). Our working group offers a vibrant and supportive intellectual community that revolves around weekly meetings in which faculty and students share ideas, seek feedback from across anthropological sub-fields and specialties, and push each other intellectually. Here is the schedule of our weekly meetings for the current semester.

The common theme across the research of participating students and faculty is the anthropological study of human-environment dynamics in past and present to understand the implications for the future. The program integrates the fields of ecological anthropology, environmental archaeology, political ecology, ethnobotany, environmental anthropology, behavioral ecology, and medical anthropology.

Faculty collaborate with each other as well as colleagues from a variety of other disciplines – geography, ecology, earth sciences, public health, veterinary medicine – which provides students with opportunities to participate in impactful interdisciplinary social-ecological systems research projects. Currently, we are hosting several such projects funded by the National Science Foundation.

What brings us together in the working group is the recognition that the integration of our respective theoretical and methodological approaches advances our understanding of human-environment dynamics.

If you are interested in joining us, please contact Mark Moritz at moritz.42@osu.edu.