Fire

Catalog description

This course examines the history and science of fire, including its impact on the evolution of the human species, on human culture, technology, and climate change. Three fires - the natural fire, the fire tamed and controlled by humans in the natural environment, and the industrial fire, i.e., controlled combustion - will ground the discussion of questions typically not envisioned when we think of fire: How did fire provide a strong set of symbols for thinking about what it means to be human, and how has it figured in culture, mythology, arts, and rituals? Did taming fire and learning to cook change the course of human evolution? Is cooked food the hinge on which evolution turned, allowing rapid development of larger brains? How did cooking and the use of fire impact the formation of societies and the advent of a family structure? Did it make us farmers and hunters? What roles has fire played in agriculture, especially in areas inhospitable to farming? The industrial fire and its role in climate change, climate change's impact on natural fire, and conversely the impact of natural fires on climate change, will be deliberated, as will the question: Are we entering the Pyrocene era?