Human Ecology

Latest update: 3 April 2026 (Fri)

1. Overview

Understanding human population survival, the comprehensive and holistic realization of interactions between human population and all environmental conditions via language, social organization and technology.

This class addresses diseases and medicine as interactions between human and biological environment with understanding medical anthropology in relation to cultural diversity and demography in relation to ultimate indicators of human population survival such as static and vital statistics, in addition to the effects of mediating factors such as social organization and technology on the interactions between human population and physical-chemical environments.

(in Japanese)

人類の生存を理解するためには，ヒト個体群と諸環境条件との間の言語，社会組織，技術を介した相互作用を総体として理解する必要がある。

本講義では，物理化学的環境と人類の相互作用について社会組織や技術が介在することの影響に加え，生物学的環境との相互作用としての疾病や医療について，文化的多様性を踏まえた理解をするための医療人類学の基礎と，人類の生存の究極的な評価指標としての人口の静態及び動態を分析するための人口学の基礎について理解できるようになることを目指す。

2. Plan

Human Ecology I (Tuesday, 2 in 2nd Quarter, since 2027)

1. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Human population survival in humanized ecosystem; (in Japanese) 人間化された生態系における人類の生存
2. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Various causes and countermeasures of air pollution; (in Japanese) 大気汚染の原因と対策の多様性
3. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Domestication of wild animals and plants and sustainability of food production; (in Japanese) 野生生物の家畜化，作物化と食糧生産の持続可能性
4. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Analysis of population structure and dynamics; (in Japanese) 人口構造と人口動態の分析
5. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Population models and projections; (in Japanese) 人口モデルと人口予測
6. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Health concepts in medical anthropology (ref. Nakazawa and Moji, 2018); (in Japanese) 医療人類学における健康の捉え方
7. (Chihiro Teorin Tsuchiya): Cultural aspects of health and medicine; (in Japanese) 保健医療の文化的側面
8. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Views of life and death in relation to bioethics; (in Japanese) 死生観と生命倫理

Human Ecology II (Tuesday, 2 in 3rd Quarter)

1. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Framework of human ecology; (in Japanese) 人類生態学のフレームワーク
2. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Social impacts on the interactions between physico-chemical environments and human population; (in Japanese) 物理化学的環境と人類の相互作用への社会的影響
3. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Social impacts on the interactions between biological environments and human population; (in Japanese) 生物的環境と人類の相互作用への社会的影響
4. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Environmental ethics and justice in the context of social norm; (in Japanese) 社会規範文脈における環境倫理学と環境正義論
5. (Chihiro Teorin Tsuchiya): Sociocultural diversity of health and malady; (in Japanese) 健康と疾病の社会文化的多様性
6. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Models of food production and energy intake (incl. input-output analysis); (in Japanese) 食料生産とエネルギーのモデル
7. (Minato NAKAZAWA): Integrated system models of human population ecology; (in Japanese) 人間＝生態系の統合システムモデル
8. (Minato NAKAZAWA): System model and comparative risk assessment (CRA) and contingent valuation methods (CVM); (in Japanese) システムモデルとCRA，CVM

Human Ecology

1. Overview

(in Japanese)

2. Plan

Human Ecology I (Tuesday, 2 in 2nd Quarter, since 2027)

Human Ecology II (Tuesday, 2 in 3rd Quarter)

3. Evaluation

4. Textbook/Further readings

Further Readings

5. Office hour

6. Message to the students