Global Environmental History

Catalog description

Climate change is a global environmental challenge, but what does “global environment” mean and how has history shaped our understanding of this term? This introduction to global environmental history explores how the material environment shapes and has been shaped by human actions. It investigates the circulation of people, commodities, and ideas through (neo)imperial networks and considers the political, economic, and social forces that have shaped our contemporary shared understanding of the non-human world. This course also challenges students to recognize who is excluded from this process of making a global environment and what is lost from such exclusions. Throughout the course, students will read and analyze primary and secondary sources and present a group project that explores connections between humans and the environment at a global scale. Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities introductory course.