Culture and Environment
The course examines geographic approaches to culture-nature relationships, especially traditional subsistence systems and social-science frameworks.
Summary
Past student reviews · Matt Turner
The class was reading-heavy, involving weekly Canvas responses, three short essays, and a final paper. One student found the readings long enough to skip half.
What you’ll be able to do
Develop a cross-cultural perspective about environment-society relations.
Explain how certain conceptual frameworks for understanding culture-environmental relations developed in the social sciences and how these have affected conservation and development practice around the world.
Discuss the strengths and limitations of these frameworks for understanding the effect of human activities on the environment or in turn the effect of environmental change on human societies.
Identify the appropriate frameworks for analyzing particular culture-environment contexts and in so doing, be better placed to develop more effective conservation or development initiatives.
Apply an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of different conceptual frameworks to develop a conceptual framing suitable for graduate research.
Source: UW Guide 1· UW Guide 2
Grade history
↗All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors
Prerequisites
Course mapGEOG 359,ENVIR ST/GEOG 337, 339, 439,AMER IND/ENVIR ST/GEOG 345, or graduate/professional standing
- GEOG 359
- ENVIRST/GEOG 337
- ENVIRST/GEOG 339
- ENVIRST/GEOG 439
- AMERIND/ENVIRST/GEOG 345
- graduate/professional standing
This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.
Prerequisite text tree
- Any of
- GEOG 359
- ENVIRST/GEOG 337
- ENVIRST/GEOG 339
- ENVIRST/GEOG 439
- AMERIND/ENVIRST/GEOG 345
- graduate/professional standing
Professors
Spring 2027No instructors recorded for this selection.
Historical instructors & teaching patterns
MATTHEW TURNER is recorded teaching in Fall 2007, Spring 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2013, Spring 2015, Fall 2019, Fall 2020, Spring 2023, Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.
Calendar & sections
Spring 2027Schedule loads here as you scroll.
| Section | Mode | Enrolled / capacity | Waitlist |
|---|
Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections.
Meeting source records
Student experience
the class
Past student reviews · Matt Turner
Students described the course as interdisciplinary and engaging, with one reviewer noting the instructor’s kind and invested teaching style.
Recent recorded grades — Fall 2019: 3.65 GPA, 83.3% A/AB (n=24 letter grades); Fall 2020: 3.59 GPA, 72.7% A/AB (n=22 letter grades); Spring 2023: 3.20 GPA, 45.5% A/AB (n=22 letter grades).
difficulty & workload
Past student reviews · Matt Turner
The class was reading-heavy, involving weekly Canvas responses, three short essays, and a final paper. One student found the readings long enough to skip half.
Past student reviews · Matt Turner
Opinions varied on engagement; one student found lectures dull and restrictive, while another found the interdisciplinary approach fascinating despite a slow pace.
Topics
- Culture-nature relationships.
- Human perception, use, and adaptation to the physical environment.
- Traditional subsistence systems.
- Social-science frameworks for culture-environmental relations.
- Conservation and development practice.
- Cross-cultural environment-society perspectives.
Skills
- Explain how social-science frameworks shaped conservation and development practice.
- Evaluate strengths and limitations of frameworks for human-environment analysis.
- Select frameworks for particular culture-environment contexts.
- Develop a conceptual framing suitable for graduate research.
Grades
Latest available · Spring 2023— not enough history to project Spring 2027.
Grade distribution · % of letter grades
Grades over time
Through Spring 2023
More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data
Sources & history
Catalog & offerings
Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.
Catalog observation history
Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.
Selected offering source records
No offering records for the selected term.
Raw records
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Student reviews
Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.
Read original reviews
Grade history
Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.
Explore recorded gradesRecorded 2026-10-14
Model outputs & technical records
LLM outputs across runs
Full model traces
Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.
Model & dataset provenance
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"requirements_status": "valid",
"dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
"observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}