HIST 259 - U.S. Environmental History

(3 credits)

How have humans shaped the environment? How has the environment shaped human societies? This course examines the intersection of these two questions, studying the environmental history of the area now encompassed in the United States from the pre-Columbian era to the present. European colonization, large-scale commercial agriculture, and industrialization all influenced and were influenced by the environment. We will also delve into American environmental thought - how have Americans constructed nature as a concept, and how has that conception changed over centuries? Environmental movement(s) and activists will be placed in historical context. The ways in which the social categories of race, class, and gender have shaped these developments and discourses will be interrogated, as will recent calls for environmental justice. Fall.