GLOBAL
ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY
(Nature and Power: Histories of Global Environmental
Change)
Winter 2017
T/TH: 10:30-12, 147 Olson
Dr. D. K. Davis
This course will provide an overview of the environmental
history of the world and an analysis of environmental change over
time. Environmental history encompasses the history of
environmental change and also the history of how human perceptions
and manipulations of nature have changed over time.
Environmental history is an inherently interdisciplinary topic
with a complex subject matter. It differs in several ways
from standard approaches to historical study and this diversity,
including some basic earth science material, will be apparent from
our readings and lectures. By learning how much the
environment has changed due to natural and human forces over the
last 10,000 years, we will be better able to understand, and
hopefully help to solve, the pressing environmental problems we
face today in order to work towards a more sustainable future.
Fulfills
the GE Social Science and Arts & Humanities
requirement. This is not a writing course.
Required Books (these are
subject to change):
Arnold, David (1996) The
Problem of Nature: Environment, Culture and European
Expansion. Oxford: Blackwell.
Hall,
Marcus
(2005) Earth Repair: A
Transatlantic
History of Environmental Restoration.University of Virginia Press.
McNeill, John R. (2000) Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History
of the Twentieth-Century World. New York: WW
Norton.
Several articles and book
chapters will compliment the main texts.
Students will be evaluated
based on their performance in class discussions and exams and
quizzes that include short essays, multiple choice and true false
questions. Other assignments may be added.
