ENVI 481GImperialism & Racial Ecologies

Catalog

This seminar considers examples and episodes from the history of the United States to understand the environmental and ecological dimensions of race and empire. Our foundational concept is that race is a historical social formation whose perceived differences explained and justified social inequities. We examine the extension of those dynamics beyond racialized bodies to the places where they lived: their sovereign and territorial status, their built environments, and their natural ecologies. Topics we will cover include: environmental racism and justice; settler colonialism, within the continental United States and in its overseas territories; capitalism and labor migration; gender and reproduction; tourism; militarization; and the biopolitics of national security.