Teaching
Amanda teaches both physical and cultural geography courses as a classically trained geographer. She also teaches anthropology and geography cross-listed introductory courses and an upper level anthropology course called Myth, Ritual, and Magic. She designed and teaches in rotation, two specialty upper level courses.
One course, Spiritual Landscapes, focuses on natural environments that are regarded as sacred. These natural formations include mountains, waterfalls, deserts, and rivers. In defining the sacred or spiritual aspect of landscapes, the course examines rituals and ceremonies as well as the numinous and cosmic individual and group experiences that have been documented.
Another course called Sacred Spaces, Sacred Paths focuses on built structures used for religious or spiritual purposes and pilgrimages that include holy sites. In that course, students work together on an experiential project, designing and building a temporary labyrinth on campus.
With a focus on discussions and critical thinking for human-environment case studies, she encourages her students to explore their world and backyards. Through understanding religions and belief systems from different cultures, she inspires students to reflect on cross-cultural commonalities and differences in relationship with nature.
Amanda brings real world places and problems into the classroom. Her students explore case studies locally and globally through different topical interests. They also have opportunities for outdoor learning. By sitting without technological distractions, students can increase their observational skills and engage their senses to connect with the campus and themselves in new ways. This serves to increase geographic awareness while also going inward in contemplation and for relaxation.
In her courses, students deepen their understanding of how cultures interact with their natural environments through the lens of religions and belief systems. They come to understand how important it is to know both the physical and cultural aspects of a place and its people. The assignments give them opportunities to explore their own backyard, other places, and people around the world.
For some students who have a solid physical science background, Amanda's courses help them to see the importance of understanding the human/cultural aspects that may overlap. For others in the social sciences, they may be exposed to cultural beliefs different from their own and begin to see how people’s natural environments may influence their behaviors, beliefs, and feelings.
Her 100-level course is divided into three modules, after the general anthropology and geography foundational material. She covers a variety of topics within each module.
The first module focuses on the interactions of people with water. Students explore cultural connections to that body of water, such as myths, beliefs, cultural practices, and historical and contemporary human-environment interactions. Topics may include water use, water wars, sacred bodies of water, channelization of rivers, and the building of dams for transportation and hydroelectric power. Students enjoy learning about water features in regions very different from what they are familiar with, and they also really enjoy looking up their own local water quality reports and what source they receive their drinking water from.
The second module focuses on cultural connections to plants and animals which includes intentionally and accidentally introduced species around the world, as well as the symbolism and ethno-botanical uses of plants in different cultures. The final module covers sacred mountains, mining operations, and archeological records of gemstones used in different cultures along with the historical and contemporary human-environmental interactions.
In one of her upper level university courses, students design and build a temporary labyrinth each year on campus for all to enjoy as a sacred space and sacred path that is inclusive. Students even find the building of the labyrinth meditative. They report after the experience their gratification when others in the community walk their finished project for well-being. This is perhaps the only course in the world where the students' experiential learning outcome is a labyrinth for the campus and wider community to use for reflection, contemplation, and meditation.
Going through her own spiritual awakening while in graduate school drives Amanda to help those students who are questioning life and exploring their own spirituality. She supports students seeking to learn from their own culture or other cultures and belief systems, while also learning skills to help them thrive mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.
Specialty Courses:
Spiritual Landscapes
This course covers the concepts of topophilia, biophilia, geophilia, and spiritual landscapes. The Spiritual Landscape course covers natural areas (geologic formations, mountains, rivers, waterfalls, etc.) Through the modern lenses of tourism impacts and economic development to historical accounts of ceremonial uses of sites, archeological findings, and mythology associated with sites and their uses today, students explore and learn how these places emanate power and why for different cultures. This course has been Certified by the Coastal Office of Online Learning.
Sacred Spaces, Sacred Paths
This course covers sacred sites, sacred geographical areas, and sacred paths (pilgrimages). The Sacred Spaces, Sacred Paths course covers built environments in areas attributed with spiritual or sacred power and or energies (i.e., temples, churches, cemeteries, shrines, and labyrinths.) This course also covers how and why people create sacred space through understanding orientation in space and the local landscape. The students in this class design and build a labyrinth. Watch the videos below that highlight the construction of the labyrinth and student perspectives of the experiential learning opportunity.
Additional Courses:
Cultures and Environments
Cultures and Environments
Cultures and Environments
This course covers the human-environment interaction through time and space as a cross-listed course between Anthropology and Geography. The way Amanda approaches the course is based upon assessing the socio-cultural anthropological aspects of various case studies through elements of our earth. These elements may include topics related to: Water, Stone, Plants, and Animals.
Myth, Ritual, and Magic
Cultures and Environments
Cultures and Environments
This course covers ancient & historical cultures’ supernatural beliefs, ritual practices, and mystical symbolism. Topics may include: witchcraft, altered states of consciousness, shamans, divination, magic, death rituals, UFO religions, and cult objects. We approach these topics through the study of folklore, mythology, historical, and archaeological evidence.