Paul Faulstich

 
Paul Faulstich is Associate Professor of Environmental Studies at Pitzer College, a member of The Claremont Colleges. He directs the Leadership in Environmental Education Partnership (LEEP). He received his B.A. from Pitzer College, his M.A. from Stanford University, and his Ph.D. from the University of Hawaii, with a fellowship at the East-West Center. He has been teaching at Pitzer since 1993.

Personal Statement

My research is interdisciplinary, attempting to reveal human perceptions of nature through investigations of social and cultural processes. I consider myself a neohumanist in that I offer revisionist and ecologically based interpretations of what it means to be Homo sapiens. My interests have crossed many boundaries, from social and political ecology to environmental aesthetics, and my areal interests span Australia, North America, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.

Statement of Educational Philosophy

I believe that formal education should provide a solid foundation of knowledge and concepts, and should complement an individual's broader experiences. Education should, I think, be both participatory and flexible; participation allows students and faculty to engage in a collaborative dialogue of learning, and flexibility enables course structure and content to fit closely with students' needs while reflecting current directions in the field. In keeping with Pitzer's educational objectives, the educational goals that I embrace include an interdisciplinary perspective, intercultural awareness, and concern for the social, environmental, and ethical ramifications of knowledge and action.

Our ecological predicament will not be solved with the same kind of education that helped create it. As a professor, I am committed to educating the best possible environmental philosophers, scientists, and activists, and to broaden and enrich the experiences of students in a variety of disciplines. In my teaching I promote critical reasoning, open inquiry, and creative exploration. Ideas, I believe, should be bent, stretched, tempered, questioned, and remade. Furthermore, my ideal of education involves not just a comprehension of ideas, but of a life lived accordingly. Human ecology, like most disciplines worthy of study, is an applied subject, since ecological issues are never solely theoretical. Hence, I try to engage students in an educational process that is imaginative, experiential, and applicable. Guided by an ecological model, I endeavor to teach courses and initiate activities that inspire passion and teach about interconnections. Service learning is a component of many of my courses, and I believe in experiential study that engages students in their communities. The way education occurs is as important as its content, and as a professor I prioritize cooperative learning, effective communication, and a sense of community.

As a cultural ecologist with diverse interests, I am engaged in preparing students not only to learn, but to act effectively on their values and to participate in their communities. Through such courses as "Environmental Awareness and Responsible Action" and "Ethnoecology", I offer students opportunities to reexamine their own assumptions, and I strive to encourage proactive and intelligent responses to our ecological dilemmas.

One of the goals of a liberal arts education is to develop balanced, whole persons. Toward this objective, I strive to help students articulate their aspirations, make their own intellectual connections, and broaden their academic appetites. To increase ecological clarity for students, I provide them with opportunities for direct experience with nature. Such experience, I believe, is an essential part of understanding the environment, conducive to proficient thinking, and enhances our prospects of building sustainable societies.

Selected Recent Publications

  1. Burning the Land and Dreaming the Country: The Ethnoecology of Rock-Art. In P. Faulstich, S. Ouzman, and P. Tacon, Exploring Relationships through Rock-Art: Ecology, Landscape and Colonial Encounters, in prep.
  2. Globalizing Wilderness: A Perspective on Traditional Ecological Knowledge in an Interconnected World. In A. Watson and G. Aplet, Personal, Societal, and Ecological Values of Wilderness. Ogden: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, 2000.
  3. Geophilia: Landscape and Humanity. Wild Earth Journal, 1998.
  4. The Ecology of Rock Art. San Diego: American Rock Art Research Association, 1996.
  5. The Cultured Wild and the Limits of Wilderness. In David Clarke Burks (ed.) Place of the Wild: A Wildlands Anthology. Washington D.C.: Island Press, 1995.
  6. Dreaming Place: Land and Myth at Nyirripi. Environments: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies 22 (2): 3-12, 1994.
  7. The Presence of the Absence of Nature. Wild Earth Journal 3 (2): 72-5, 1993.

Courses Taught

  1. Progress and Oppression: Ecology, Human Rights, and Development
  2. Environmental Awareness and Responsible Action
  3. Theory and Practice in Environmental Education
  4. Ecology, Community, and Design
  5. Field Methods in Cultural Studies
  6. Worldview and Natural History
  7. Intercultural Communication
  8. Ecology and Culture Change
  9. The Desert as a Place
  10. Exhibiting Nature
  11. Visual Ecology
  12. Ethnoecology

Leadership in Environmental Education Partnership (LEEP)

WebCT Online Course

How to log on to WebCT
Worldview and Natural History - WebCT course

 

Contact Information

 

Office: Broad Center 214
Phone: (909) 621-8818
Mailing Address:
Professor Paul Faulstich
Pitzer College
1050 N. Mills Ave.
Claremont, CA 91711
Email:paul_faulstich@pitzer.edu 
last modified July 17, 2001