HIS
109a:
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL
HISTORY
Winter 2012 Course
Description
MWF 10-11; 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.
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.
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.
This course
description is subject to change.
