College Course 245College Course 245The Sonoran Desert
Spring 2005
Office: Seabury 405
Email: gary.reger@trincoll.edu
(860) 297-2393 (rarely checked)
This course meets on Tuesdays 1.15-2.45 pm for an average of 75 minutes a week across the semester, but the meetings are irregular; see the schedule below for full details.
Please note -- the syllabus below is NOT the final version but a draft. The actual assignments and some other features -- but not the trip -- may be considerably different, and certainly less onerous (more in line with the 0.5 credit). The final version will be up when this notice disappears.
This half-credit course examines one of the great North American deserts. The Sonoran, which straddles the current US-Mexican border (a completely artificial line), is probably the most lush and biologically diverse desert on the planet; it is also, in geological terms, one of the youngest. In the course of the semester we will look closely at the ways humans have interacted historically with this arid environment. The course culminates in a ten-day trip into the desert over Spring Break. Participation in this trip is a mandatory element of the course. Participation in this course is limited to eight (8) students; preference will be given to students who have taken History 211: History of the Desert.
Cost of the Spring Break Desert Trip: The exact cost of the trip will depend on the number of students who register and airfares and hotel rates at the time we make the final reservations. For purposes of planning only, you may estimate the approximate cost at $2000-2100. This estimate includes airfare to and from Arizona, hotel rooms for two nights, car rental, fees for Big Wild Adventures, all entry fees to parks and museums, and all food and equipment while we are camping and hiking. Not included are food during our two overnights in Tucson and/or Phoenix, lunch in Ajo, and any gifts or souvenirs.
For financial aid students: Please contact Carolyn Legeyt (860-297-2045) in the Financial Aid Office for information about possible financial aid to cover part of the cost of the field trip.
Panorama of the Sonoran Desert
at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument
A note about me.
I am by training an historian of ancient Greece and Rome. This course therefore
represents a considerable departure for me from my usual brief. While I have
been interested in the Sonoran Desert for many years and have read around in its
history, both human and natural, taking this course from me is no substitute for
courses on the history, geology, or biology of the Southwest taught by genuine
experts. Therefore this class cannot be construed to satisfy requirements in any
major or minor – it is purely an elective, in which I hope that both you and I
will learn together, and from each other.
Assignments
Books and Reading
Luis Alberto Urrea, In Search of Snow (New York 1994)
A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert, eds. Steven J. Phillips and Patricia Wentworth Comus (Tucson and Berkeley 2000)
Some readings for the course are posted on the Blackboard site, which also contains a link to the syllabus. You can access Blackboard directly from the reading listed by clicking on BB.
(March 18 through 27)
The centerpiece of this course will be a field trip over Spring Break to Arizona. We will visit the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, meet with officials of the Tohono O’odham Nation at reservation headquarters in Sells, Arizona, and hike and camp in both Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (car camping and day-hiking) and the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge (backpacking and day-hiking). The hiking and backpacking portions of the trip will be run by Howie Wolke of Big Wild Adventures, who has more than twenty years’ experience in wildness backpacking.
Big Wild Adventures has developed an equipment list that represents the minimum and maximum things you should bring. Please read over the list carefully and pack nothing more and nothing less! You may also want to pack one full change of clothes to wear at the end for the flight home. But please do not bring anything else as everything we take will have to be stored in Howie's car, and space is extremely limited.
There is reading to prepare for the trip, some of which cannot be done on the plane because it's on the internet -- be sure to have completed your reading before we depart!
The schedule for this trip as currently constituted is:
March 18 (Friday): Depart for Arizona – fly to Phoenix, auto from Phoenix to Tucson. Overnight in hotel in Tucson. Evening: student campfire presentation.
March 19 (Saturday): Meet Howie Wolke; drive to Saguaro National Park for early morning day hike and introductory lectures on "Desert Hazards and Safety" and "Low Impact Desert Wilderness Camping." Afternoon: Visit Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. Return to hotel. Evening: student campfire presentation.
March 20 (Sunday): Depart Tucson early for Organ Pipe National Monument; hike into backcountry and camp. Late-afternoon hike. Dinner; student campfire presentation.
March 21 (Monday): All day hike in Organ Pipe. Evening: student campfire presentation. Talk by Howie: "Public Lands and the National Wilderness Preservation System."
March 22 (Tuesday): Break camp early morning (after breakfast); drive to Ajo. At Ajo we will have a seminar with representatives of several organizations working in the Sonoran Desert region. The seminar will be held at the offices of International Sonoran Desert Alliance from 9 am to 12 pm and will be followed by lunch. The Alliance's goals include:
Planned participants in the seminar include::
In the afternoon we leave Ajo for a longish drive (c. 3 hours) to our initial campsite in the Cabeza Prieta, where we camp by car and take a short late-afternoon hike if time permits. Evening: student campfire presentation.
Sonoran Desert Panorama
Looking North Toward Ajo, Arizona
March 23 (Wednesday): Backpack into campsite in Cabeza Prieta. Evening: student campfire presentation. Talk by Howie: "Wilderness of the Global Ecological Crisis."
March 24-25 (Thursday-Friday): Camping and hiking in the back country of the Cabeza Prieta; evenings: student campfire presentations. Talk by Howie (one evening): "Adaptations of Desert Plants and Animal to Arid Environments."
March 26 (Saturday): Break camp early morning and drive back to Phoenix; evening at the Phoenix Super 8 Airport (602-244-1627). Confirmation numbers: P6544600; P6544601; P6544602.
March 27 (Sunday): shuttle from motel to airport; return to Hartford.
January 25 (T): Introduction
February 1 (T): Physical conditioning meeting with Anne Parmenter. Meet in the weight room, Ferris Athletic Center.
February 8 (T): No class
February 15 (T): Early
Spanish Exploration and the Christianization of the Desert
Right: The Church at San Xavier del Bac.
Reading: Bernard L. Fontana, Entrada. The Legacy of Spain and Mexico in the United States (Tucson 1994) pp. 25-31, 51-63, 79-99, 137-167, and 196-210 -- on reserve in the Library
Desert Essay: Anne Zwinger, The Mysterious Lands. A Naturalist Explores the Four Great Deserts of the Southwest (Tucson 1989) 85-93, 134-149 (BB).
February 22 (T): No class
March 1 (T): No class -- Trinity days
March 2 (W): The Desert as a Physical and Living Space -- A Conversation with Joan Morrison and Christoph Geiss
For this meeting we will meet in the evening for dinner and our talk, time and place to be announced.
Reading: A Natural History of the Sonoran Desert, pp. 3-18, 41-104, 119-151, 365-372, 527-532
Desert Essay: none
March 9 (W): Victoria Kong -- Photographing the Mojave Desert
Desert Essay: Luis Alberto Urrea, In Search of Snow (Tucson 1994).
March 15 (T): Sonoran Desert Native American Groups -- the O'odham
Reading: Thomas Childs, "A Sketch of the Sand Indians," Kiva 19 (1954) 27-39 (BB);
Desert Essay: Edward Abbey, "A Walk in the Desert Hills," in Beyond the Wall. Essays from the Outside (New York 1984) 1-49 (BB as Abbey, "Walk")
Some internet resources include Akimel O'odham web page. The "sand food" favored by the Hiaced-O'odham grows in the dunes of the North Algodones Dunes Wilderness Area.
Sonoran Desert Field Trip: March 18 through 27
See description above
March 29 (T): No class
April 5 (T): Discussion of the trip.
April 10 (T): Desert Policy Issues, I. Illegal immigration
Reading: 000-000
Desert Essay:
April 19 (T): Desert Policy Issues, II. Irrigation and Agriculture
Reading: Amadeo M. Rea, Once a River. Bird Life and Habitat Changes on the Middle Gila (Tucson 1983) 16-97.(BB)
Desert Essay: Stanley Crawford, Majordomo. Chronicle of an Acequia in Northern New Mexico (Albuquerque 1988) 1-30 (BB)
April 27 (T): Desert Policy Issues, III. The Greater Sonoran Park and Conservation
Reading: 000-000
Desert Essay:
May 2 (T): Final Presentations
May 8: Final Papers Due
Topics:
There are 11 substantive possible meetings, of which 5 occur before the field trip. You should therefore have 5 topics for pre-trip preparation, time afterwards for good post-trip topics, and time for final presentations of work.
Spanish exploration and making them Christian. Read: Father Kino, study San Xavier del Bac
Hohokam
Irrigation History of the Phoenix region
Land use policy issues
Overland via the Gila: Early American Explorers and the California Gold Rush
Creation of the Sonoran Desert Native American Reservations
Defining the Border with Mexico
Illegal immigration – immigration history across the desert border
The Military in the Desert. The History of the Barry M. Goldwater Range
Role of the Sonoran Desert in the emergence of the modern environmental movement
Be sure to include a variety of types of reading:
Some traditional research papers; Ann Zwinger-type nature essays, there's also one by Barbara Kingsolver in the book Edie's reading; and find some fiction – let's read a few of those Papago/Pima myths in the collections I have, also perhaps in more professional publications; desert poetry? Read an Abbey essay or two on the Sonoran. Something by/about Sonoran environmentalism.
Some Internet Resources
As everybody knows, the Internet is an extraordinary resource for information. You will find thousands of sites out there related to topics and issues we have dealt with in this course. I collect below a mere handful of immediately relevant or interesting sites.
The Western National Parks Association sells books, videos, and other items related to the national parks and monuments of the West, and runs fund-raising drives for improvements to parks and services.
The Arizona Native Plant Society acts to promote the conservation of native plants of Arizona.
Please note: I have not taught this course before. This syllabus should be regarded as a beta-version, with many more details yet to come. I hope to have a final version up by the end of February, 2004.
If you are interested in this course, whose enrollment is limited, please send me an email with a copy to Gigi St. Peter, the Administrative Assistant to the History Department. I will keep the list and interview people at pre-enrollment in the Fall 2004 semester.