PLANTS AND HUMANS

PLANTSCI 350

Plants provide not only the foundation of food, clothing, and shelter essential for human existence, but also some of the key raw materials for transcendence and abstraction through music, art, and spirituality. Since antiquity, we have co-evolved with plants and their derivative products, with each exerting a domesticating force on the other. It is, for example, impossible to think of our modern life without its plant-based accompaniments in the form of cotton, sugar, bread, coffee, and wood. Yet they are so ubiquitous we may forget they all derive from plants discovered, domesticated, bred, and farmed for millennia in a never-ending pursuit to improve our wellbeing. Major points of intersection between plants and human wellbeing will be explored from a horticultural point of view by highlighting a plant or group of plants that represent a primary commodity or resource through which humans have pursued their own aims and explore effects and impacts on human society.

BOTANY 100

Major emphasis on the roles of plants and microbes in past and present global ecology, and the past and present uses of plants and microbes by humans, including emerging applications of biotechnology.

AMERIND/ANTHRO/BOTANY 474

Study of the interactions between human cultures and plants. Topics include: traditional resource management and agriculture; crop domestication, evolution, and conservation; archaeobotany; indigenous knowledge; folk taxonomy; plants in symbolism and religion; dietary patterns; phytochemistry; global movement of plants and peoples.

AGROECOL/HISTSCI 301

Dig into the history of plant sciences to understand why plants and humans have the relationships they do today. Focus on the experiences of Indigenous Americans and People of Color to understand the roots of inequities in horticulture, agriculture, and other plant sciences. Practice skills as a translator of science and history through engagement with scientific publications, library resources, and archival materials. Define important societal questions, collect and analyze evidence, present original conclusions, and contribute to ongoing discussions about the relationship of people and plants.

PLANTSCI 351

Plants are essential for human wellbeing, yet they are often manipulated in ways that contribute significantly to human and environmental detriment. Provides an opportunity to consider the scientific, social, economic, and public policy implications of plants or groups of plants and dive deeply into those subjects for a variety of crops that are essential for human societies.