Overview
ESSAY PROMPT:
Do you have a choice going forward in our responses to major existential challenges (our fragile planet, limits of human cooperation, population growth), or does our past foretell the outcome(s)?
What to do: Review the instructions for this week’s assignment.
Objectives
Practice writing.
Apply the lessons and narrative prehistory of our Anthropocene niche construction
Make a (scholarly, reasoned) judgement about your own agency
Directions
Your essay should be about 5 paragraphs long (1-1½pages,500-700words), with an introductory paragraph (starts with a topic sentence, i.e., your first one!). Your topic sentence characterizes your response to the prompt; it sets out an opinion and tells how you will subsequently support that opinion. The essay prompt asks you to consider our current global human ecology in its place in the Anthropocene narrative and to draw upon the constructs of agency and structure (chapter 9) to judge your own agency. This essay asks you to take a stand! So be prepared to make a clear statement about your choice and defend/support your statement with examples from the archaeological record (which is the only complete record of long-term cultural adaptations.
What to Include
Your essay must include a discussion of the following points:
1. Discussion of the major challenges humans will face now in the future. You don’t have to list everything, but you must describe in detail at least one major challenge that humans will face using evidence of its magnitude and seriousness from the course readings, film, and/or your own research. Consult chapter 15 or examples of challenges.
2. Take a clear stand on whether humans will be able to overcome these challenges or not. If they can overcome these challenges, what qualities and actions will be required? If they cannot overcome these challenges, explain why they are insurmountable.
3. Use evidence from archaeology to support your position. If you argue humans can succeed, use examples from archaeology of specific instances where humans have adapted and survived to changing circumstances. If you argue humans will fail, use examples from archaeology of specific instances where humans could not adapt or survive a changing world.
This assignment does not rely on any additional research beyond the course materials. If you do use additional resources, you must include citations.
4. What agency do you provide for this outcome?
Resources
Chapter 15, “The Future of the Anthropocene”
Video “The Anthropocene”
video “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch free”
