Kursöversikt
Schedule Update
Due to unavoidable scheduling conflicts, the following changes have been made:
Feb 6: 5:00 PM–7:00 PM (instead of 4:00 PM–6:00 PM)
Mar 12: 4:00 PM–6:00 PM (moved from Mar 13)
Thank you for your understanding!
Environmental history is an expanding field in historical research. Attention to the subject is driven by a growing awareness of the severe environmental challenges we face in our time. Research within the field focuses on the changing relationship between humans and nature. Traditionally, historians have approached the past without sufficiently taking nature and environmental issues into account. An important starting point for the course is that large parts of the familiar historical narrative look very different when studied in an environmental context. During the course, you examine how human activities throughout history have depended on and interacted with the natural world. Covering long historical perspectives, we analyze natural disasters, epidemics and famine against the backdrop of human exploitation of natural resources and technological advances. On a general level, you study how the relationship to natural phenomena and resources has shaped people’s lives and conditions in different parts of the world.
During the course, you problematize theories about the environment and sustainability in relation to people and society. We critically discuss different kinds of source materials and how these can be used in historical studies. Sources in environmental history can include everything from nature’s own archives (e.g. fish stocks, mosses, forests) to government reports and intellectual history discourses. Moreover, we examine the need to develop new interdisciplinary methods in order analyze the available sources.
The course begins on Thursday February 6. The course follows a structure with lectures on Thursdays and subsequent seminars on Tuesdays the following week. All seminars and lectures will be held online using Zoom. Under the link "list of seminars" [link to be added later] below, each seminar block is presented and relevant course literature stated. Please note: Information about additional literature etc to each lecture may be slightly altered during the course.
Lectures and seminars are held from 4 pm to 6 pm. The lectures on Thursdays are, however, in practice shorter, about 45 minutes with time for questions. Seminars the following Tuesdays are two hours long. The final session Perspectives is held from 4 pm to 6 pm.
Seminar Presentation Schedule
Each student is responsible for presenting an article at two different seminars during the course. The seminar format follows this structure:
Individual presentations by the assigned students will open each seminar.
Two students per seminar will present.
The presentation material must be submitted as a PM to the seminar leader in advance.
After the presentations, the seminar will continue with discussions.
Below is the schedule of student presentations:
Note! The schedule will be updated on Thursday, March 6, after the session. Due to a reduced number of participants, it has not been possible to maintain the original plan. Apologies for any inconvenience.
Seminar Number; Title; Presenting Students
1. What is Environmental History?
2. Climate Change and the Anthropocene
3. Cultured Soils I: From the Neolithic Revolution
4. Harvested Oceans I Felix Steinbrecher
5. Cultured Soils II: To the Agricultural and Green Revolutions Melker Stensgaard
6. Harvested Oceans II Ylva Tjelle
7. Forests in Transition Alexander Santos Collantes Taqueda
8. Energy Birgitta Sundell Rånby
9. New Worlds Felix Steinbrecher, Ylva Tjelle
10. Urbanization Melker Stensgaard
11. Environmentalism and Advocacy Stephanie Winkler
All students are expected to actively participate in the discussions following the presentations.
If your name is not included in the list above, please contact the course coordinator, Erik.hallberg@history.gu.se
Kurssammanfattning:
| Datum | Information | Sista inlämningsdatum |
|---|---|---|