Overview of Course

Environmental history examines human interactions with the environment in the past. This field offers fresh and valuable perspective on historical developments and on contemporary environmental issues. World environmental history applies a global perspective to such subjects, highlighting patterns and connections across space and time.

HIST 470 introduces students to the methods, sources, development, content, and contributions of world environmental history. More broadly, it will familiarize you with historiography and the practice of history. Course materials provide a thematic approach to the field, examining key points of inquiry such as ideas of nature, environmentalism, cities and the built environment, climate change, natural resources, imperialism, and environmental justice and injustice. As we travel around the world, this course will highlight subjects and stories that resonate with specific points of our voyage. Through assignments, discussions, and other activities, we will place these subjects in a global framework, highlighting patterns and connections across space and time. This course provides critical context for contemporary environmental issues by exposing the central and varied roles of the environment in past human societies. It will deepen your awareness of and appreciation for the wider world and the environmental dimensions of human experience.