Dr. Rebecca Zarger
Assistant Professor
Department of Environmental Studies
and Sociology and Anthropology
ECS 332, Florida International University
Miami, FL 33199
Phone: (305)348-1209
Fax: (305)348-6137
Email: Rebecca.Zarger@fiu.edu

Research Interests

My research is grounded in the field of ecological anthropology, the study of human-environment relationships past and present. The focus of much of my research is on indigenous or local ecological knowledge and how that relates to human behavior, institutions, and beliefs. Local and/or indigenous communities have many shared understandings of the biophysical environment and the roles humans play in shaping that environment. Ecological knowledge is a dynamic body of information passed on, and in many cases transformed, from generation to generation.

More specifically my research areas include cultural transmission of ecological knowledge, subsistence and changes in land use patterns, biocultural diversity conservation, ethnobiology and ethnobotany, social networks, cognition and learning, environmental education, and cross-cultural child development. My geographic areas of specialization are Mesoamerica and the Caribbean, as much of my fieldwork is conducted in southern Belize in Q'eqchi' and Mopan Maya communities. My present research involves documenting responses and adaptations in subsistence strategies and the informal education system in the wake of Hurricane Iris, which struck Belize in October 2001. My prior fieldwork provides a baseline for comparison of agricultural practices, land use, provision of non-cultivated foods prior to that event. I also conduct research on the variation and distribution of ecological knowledge, changing land use patterns, protected areas, migration, and globalization in the Q'eqchi' regions of Belize and Gautemala.

Courses Taught

Fall 2004:
EVR 1017 The Global Environment and Society
ANT 3212 World Ethnographies
EVR-4415 Population and Environment

Courses In Development:
Human Dimensions of Global Change
Ecological Anthropology
Global Perspectives on Indigenous Peoples, Conservation, & Sustainable Development

Introduction to Anthropology Honors Seminar (Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia)

Students

Nicole Katin
Kathy Stone

Recent Publications

Stepp, J. R., E. C. Jones, D. G. Casagrande, M. Pavao-Zuckerman, and R. K. Zarger. 2003. Unique and Remarkable Properties of Human Ecosystems. Conservation Ecology. Special Issue on Human Ecosystems.

Zarger, R. K., 2003. Public Participation in Environmental Decision Making From a Practitioner Perspective. Report for National Research Council Panel on Public Participation, Committee on Human Dimensions of Global Change. May 2003, Washington DC.

Zarger, R. K. 2002. Acquisition and Transmission of Subsistence Knowledge by Q'eqchi' Maya in Belize, in Ethnobiology and Biocultural Diversity, pp 593-603. Athens: University of Georgia Press.

Stepp, J. R., F. S. Wyndham, and R. K. Zarger, Eds. 2002. Ethnobiology and Biocultural Diversity. 720 pp. Athens: University of Georgia Press. Zarger, R. K. 2000. Book review. Traditional and Modern Natural Resource Management in Latin America, F. Pinchon, J. Uquillas, and J. Frechione, Editors. Society and Natural Resources, 14:1.

Zarger, R. K. 1998. Conceptualizing Prehistoric Water Scarcity in the Central Maya Lowlands: the Influence of a Critical Resource on Settlement Patterns and Political Economy. Journal of Ecological Anthropology, vol. 2, pp.69-84.

Zarger, R. K. and J. R. Stepp. in prep. Persistence of Botanical Knowledge Among Tzeltal Maya Children. Current Anthropology Research Reports.

Zarger, R. K., in prep. Learning In Situ: gaining expertise with biophysical environments in childhood, in Learning Outside Schools, J. Hill, M. Pittman, L. Lincoln, and M. Wallace, Eds.

Zarger, R. K., in prep. Situated Learning in the Landscapes of Childhood: acquisition of subsistence knowledge and skills. Anthropology and Education Quarterly.

Zarger, R. K. in prep. Review of On Biocultural Diversity: linking language, knowledge and the environment, L. Maffi, Ed. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press. 2001. Journal of Ecological Anthropology, 7:1.

Activities

Co-Editor, Journal of Ecological Anthropology, 1998-present. Editorial staff 1996-1998.

Contributing Editor, Anthropology and Environment Section, for Anthropology News (AN), a publication of the American Anthropological Association. 2002-2004.

Member, Ex-Officio, Executive Council, Anthropology and Environment Section, of the American Anthropological Association. 2002-2004.

Environmental education and biocultural diversity conservation in southern Belize. Ongoing initiatives in Toledo District, Belize, in conjunction with the Forest Department of Belize and local non-government organizations. Projects in development include an interpretive plant trail featuring local wild and semi-cultivated plant resources, a travelling herbarium of local plant species, and environmental education curricula with a focus on supporting local knowledge and ecosystems.

Community-based conservation workshop on local knowledge and environmental science. Golden Stream Corridor Preserve, Toledo District, Belize and Flora and Fauna International, UK. 2001.

Outreach coordinator, Latin American Ethnobotanical Garden, University of Georgia, Athens, GA. 1999.

Biography

Dr. Zarger received her Ph. D. in Anthropology from the University of Georgia in August 2002. The doctoral program in anthropology at UGA is focused on environmental and ecological anthropology. She earned a B. A. in both Anthropology and English from Wake Forest University in 1995 and is originally from Knoxville, Tennessee. Her doctoral research was conducted in southern Belize and focused on the transmission of local ecological knowledge from generation to generation in Q'eqchi' Maya communities there. After receiving her degree from Georgia, Dr. Zarger worked with the Committee on Human Dimensions of Global Change at the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science in Washington, DC. Her research there, as a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy intern, focused on public participation and stakeholder involvement in environmental decision making, planning, and restoration. She has also participated in a new public policy initiative of the Anthropology and Environment section of the American Anthropological Association with the goal to facilitate communication between environmental/ecological anthropologists and policy makers. She has served as Co-editor of the Journal of Ecological Anthropology from 1998 to the present.