STSC 179 An introduction to environmental history
Cross-listed as ENVS 179, HIST 320, HSOC 179
Offered:Spring 2010
Greene TR 12-1:30
How are mosquitos, rivers and hurricanes historical actors? In most histories, they are part of the backdrop to human actions. In environmental history, a way of thinking about the interactions between humans and the natural world, the forces, places, beings and objects of the non-human world are essential to understanding how history happens.
This is a course about the history of nature in the human world, and a history of humans in the natural world. How has nature acted in human history and why? How have humans acted in natural history and why? Where do our ideas about "nature" come from and how do they shape how human act on the environment? I
This course examines both global and American history, looking at how and why environments and ideas about "nature" change over time. It is intended as a broad introduction to a significant, interdisciplinary field of history. We examine how this historical knowledge develops through readings and research. Topics include energy, health and disease, consumption, economic development and the history of environmentalism and environmental law, using sources from history, literature, art, polemic and memoir. There will be short papers, discussion of readings, and a research project.
