Program Overview
Program Overview
The University of Copenhagen offers a Master's program in Applied Ethnobotany, which is designed for students from a broad range of disciplines, including biology, anthropology, landscape architecture, and pharmacology.
Program Description
The program introduces students to research at the interface between several disciplines, using methods derived from botany, anthropology, ecology, economy, ethno-medicine, climate, and conservation science. The course covers topics such as introduction to ethnobotany, botanical methods, anthropological methods, ecology, economics, food plants, ethno-medicine, climate change, and conservation.
Learning Outcomes
After completing the course, students should be able to:
- Display an overview of key areas within ethnobotanical research and describe main theories regarding traditional plant use and its relative importance to different user groups.
- Understand the role of ethnobotanical studies in community development, sustainable land management, and development.
- Demonstrate awareness of ethics and values related to ethnobotanical studies.
- Reflect on ethnobotany in relation to local and national cross-cutting issues such as gender, culture, equity, environmental concern, and intellectual property rights.
Skills and Competencies
Students will be familiar with methods useful for working with local communities to understand local classification and uses of plants, including plant properties. They will be able to select and apply ethnobotanical principles and tools to explore solutions to ecosystem and plant conservation together with local people. Students will also be able to define and formulate a research question, plan practical fieldwork, apply scientific ethnobotanical methods in data collection and analysis, and communicate research aims and results to the involved community.
Literature
The course uses Gary J. Martin's "Ethnobotany: A Methods Manual" as an introduction to the science of ethnobotany and practical field methods. The book is supplemented by selected scientific papers and book chapters for advanced understanding of hypothesis, methods, analysis, and results of ethnobotanical studies within plant use, management, and conservation.
Recommended Academic Qualifications
The course is designed for students with academic qualifications equivalent to a BSc degree. No prior courses are required, but an introduction to ethnobotany within an applied context is recommended.
Teaching and Learning Methods
The course is composed of alternating lectures, exercises, and discussions. The lectures provide an overview of theory, examples of application in practice, and serve to link different disciplines. The focus is on critical discussions, including student presentations. External specialists may be used as lecturers, and exercises will demonstrate the application of different ethnobotanical methods.
Workload
The course workload is distributed as follows:
- Lectures: 35 hours
- Preparation: 70 hours
- Practical exercises: 35 hours
- Excursions: 10 hours
- Project work: 50 hours
- Guidance: 6 hours
- Total: 206 hours
Assessment
The course assessment consists of:
- Written project and poster (25%)
- Oral examination (75%) The oral exam will analyze one or two key issues in a broader ethnobotanical context, and students must pass all part-examinations individually to pass the overall exam.
Course Information
- Language: English
- Course code: LNAK10037U
- Credit: 7.5 ECTS
- Level: Full Degree Master
- Duration: 1 block
- Placement: Block 1
- Schedule: A
- Course capacity: 35
- Study board: Study Board of Natural Resources, Environment and Animal Science
- Contracting departments: Department of Food and Resource Economics, Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences
- Contracting faculty: Faculty of Science
- Course coordinators: Ida Theilade and Lars Holger Schmidt
Evaluation Criteria
Evaluation is based on student performance in relation to the intended learning outcome of the course. The marking scale is a 7-point grading scale, and there is no external censorship. Two or more internal examiners will assess the exam. The re-exam will be conducted as the ordinary exam.