Global Environmental History: Mountains, Rivers and Animals in Asia and Africa

Catalog description

Environmental history cultivates critical thinking beyond the confines of single-nation states and their respective geographies and chronologies to consider longer stretches of time and wider territorial scales of analysis. This course is organized around the study of the Himalayas, Hindu Kush and other mountain ranges including the Zagros, Taurus and Atlas where forests and forest products are the primary foci. In addition to Nile and Indus river histories, the course also considers the history of water more generally from the perspective of ancient hydraulic technologies in Mesopotamia to the geopolitics of mega-dams along the Mekong River. The course will address animal histories and cultures, primarily those associated with camels, horses and elephants while paying lesser attention to donkeys, mules, goats, sheep, dogs and yak. The general concern throughout will be human interaction with the natural world.