Arts 3242 Environmental History
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1 SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES ARTS 3242 ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY 6 UNITS OF CREDIT SESSION 1, 2012 2 COURSE STAFF Course director: Scientia Professor Ian Tyrrell Room: 352 MB Phone: 9385 2345 Email: [email protected] Consultation Times: 12-1 Tuesdays and Thursdays during semester teaching weeks. COURSE DETAILS Lectures: Wednesday 3-4 (w1-7, 9-13, ChemSc M11) Seminar/Tutorials: Wed 4-6 (w2-7, 9-13, Law 301) Seminar/Tutorials: Wed 4-6 (w2-7, 9-13, Law 388) 6 uoc COURSE AIMS To provide a course on the global history of the environment and humans‘ relationship to it since pre- industrial times. The geographical stress will be upon North America, Europe and Australia, with attention also to the spread of European environmental damage and conservation movements via imperialism. We will stress the dialectic between nature and culture; the interaction of material change in the environment and our perceptions of the environment; and the debate over the methodology and content of environmental history contained in these issues. The study of Environmental History provides the following outcomes Investigating people‘s recollections of past land use, transport, communication, energy-use and education by using oral history techniques Investigating the history of human environmental interrelationships in a particular places over time The study of the history of indigenous peoples‘ culture and land use and its significance in comparative perspective with Euro-American patterns Decoding past discourses concerning environmental sustainability, e.g. debates about past attempts to frame policies of sustainability under other rubrics such as land settlement or afforestation Describing, analysing and framing theories of long-waves of change in the relationship between energy and other resource use, population change, and economic growth Study of historical evolution and ‗politics and practice‘ of ‗the heritage industry‘—historical representations of environmental practice and thought in museums, theme parks, historical monuments both cultural and ‗natural‘ STUDENT LEARNING OUTCOMES Students who successfully complete this course will have obtained 1. A broad overview of environmental history themes 2. Knowledge of the debates in over historical interpretation, particularly in relationship to two topics studied in depth 3. Research skills; knowledge of and experience in using key sources, including internet sources, and displaying competence in being able to discriminate among interpretations using evidence Among the concepts which will be explained in the lectures and class discussions are the following: 3 Identification of concepts in environmental history: three environmental revolutions; environmental determinism; cultural landscapes; deforestation and afforestation; carrying capacity; tragedy of the commons; environmental sinks; social geography of pollution; commodification of nature; acclimatisation; ecological imperialism; environmental exchanges; monoculture; broad acre agriculture; conservation, preservation, renovation, rectification; land/labour ratios; sustainability; socialised nature; globalisation and transnational history. ASSESSMENT: Research Essay (4000 words): 50 percent Due May 18. The essay is the most important piece of work students will do, developing research skills and ability to frame an argument using historical evidence, and is accordingly rewarded with most marks. For the same reason it is to be submitted late in the session. Seminar paper: 20 percent Due one week after presentation Here students are to examine the main historical interpretations in a particular topic or controversy, and to provide a balanced assessment of the arguments. The Seminar paper will be 2000 words. Bibliography of works to be attached. Seminar Oral presentation: 10 percent Assessment will be made on the basis of the organization of the presentation as well as the coherence of the analysis given. Seminar Participation: 20 percent Students will be assessed on participation in terms of contribution to discussion, evidence of reading as widely as possible, and understanding of historiographical arguments. ATTENDANCE To successfully complete this unit you are required to attend minimum 80% of classes. If this requirement is not met you will fail the unit. The Lecturer will keep attendance records. For details of procedures on the essay and seminar paper, see the school publication: The Essay. Late Submission of Assignments Assignments submitted after the due or extended date will incur a 1% penalty of the maximum marks available for that assignment for the first day late and a further 1% for each day between 2 and 20. Assignments received more than 21 calendar days after the due or extended date will not be allocated a mark. LECTURE PROGRAM 3pm. Wednesday (Week 1 to Week 13). Lectures will give an overview of the topics: three environmental revolutions and environmental determinism; cultural landscapes; deforestation and afforestation; carrying capacity; tragedy of the commons; environmental sinks; social geography of pollution; commodification of nature; acclimatisation; ecological imperialism; environmental exchanges; monoculture; broad acre agriculture; conservation, preservation, renovation, rectification; land/labour ratios; sustainability; socialised nature; globalisation and transnational history. 4 TEACHING RATIONALE AND STRATEGIES The lectures will provide an overview and a critical assessment of methods and interpretations adopted by historians. Because of the integrating role of lectures in providing shape and context to the expected student learning outcomes, attendance is essential. Students are encouraged to contribute to discussions in the lectures. There will be detailed summary handouts for each lecture. Seminars build upon the main themes explored in the lectures allowing students to discuss issues in depth. The roles of students in this discussion process is crucial. GENERAL Reading Web sites: http://www.eh-resources.org/links.html Joachim Radkau, Nature and Power: A Global History of the Environment (Cambridge, 2008). S 304.2/321 On Reserve. SEMINAR TOPICS: WEEK 1: NO SEMINARS IN WEEK 1 WEEK 2: WHERE ARE WE HEADED AND HOW DOES HISTORY HELP? Key Issues and Concepts: Fossil fuel revolution; globalisation and transnational environmental history Discussion questions: How has energy structured world history? Required Reading: Peter Sieferle, The Subterranean Forest: Energy Systems and the Industrial Revolution (Whitehorse Press, 2001). (a summary occurs in R.P. Sieferle, “The Energy System. A Basic Concept of Environmental History,” in Brimblecombe, P., and Pfister, C. (eds), The Silent Countdown (New York: Springer, 1990), pp. 9-2 (R) [A similar argument is offered in E. A. Wrigley, Energy and the English Industrial Revolution, which you can use instead, for which see below] John McNeil, ‗Energy History since 10,000 BC,‘ in McNeill, Something New Under the Sun (London, 2000) V. Smil, excerpt from Ch. 5: ‗Fossil Fueled Civilization.‘ Energy in World History (Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1994), 185-191, 206-218. (K) J-P. Deléage, ‗From Ecological History to World-Ecology,‘ in P. Brimblecombe and J. Pfister, eds., The Silent Countdown (Berlin, 1990), 21-36. (R) Alfred W. Crosby, Children of the Sun (New York, 2006) (R) Clive Ponting, A Green History of the World (London, 1991), chap. 16 (R) E. A. Wrigley, Energy and the English Industrial Revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge U.P, 2010) 5 Donald Worster, ‗World without Borders: The Internationalization of Environmental History,‘ in Kendall E. Bailes, Environmental History: Critical Issues in Comparative Perspective (Lanham, Md., 1985), 661-69. (R) WEEK 3: KEY ISSUES AND CONCEPTS: CULTURAL LANDSCAPES NOTE –WHERE THERE ARE TWO PAPER GIVERS DO A and B or C and D. Discussion questions: a. What are cultural landscapes? b. Compare and contrast the views of Worster and Cronon on the role of material nature versus human cultural perceptions. c. Do Australian environmental history problems differ from those elsewhere because of the peculiarities of Australian soils, vegetation, or water supply? (See E. Rolls, ‗More like a new Planet than a New Continent;‘ there is also extensive reading available in Tim Flannery, The Future Eaters). d. What is ecological history? Reading: S. Dovers, Ch. 1: ‗Australian environmental history: introduction, review and principles.‘ Australian Environmental History (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1994), 2-19. (R) Donald Worster, ‗Transformations of the Earth: Toward an Agroecolgoical Perspective in History,‘ Journal of American History, 76 (March 1990), 1087-1106 (K) Also JSTOR William Cronon, ‗Modes of Prophecy and Production: Placing Nature in History,‘ Journal of American History, 76 (March 1990), 1122-31 (K) Also JSTOR E. Rolls, ‗More like a New Planet than a New Continent,‘ in S. Dovers, ed., Australian Environmental History (Melbourne, 1994), 22-36 (R) Kristin Asdal, ‗The Problematic Nature of Nature: The Post-Constructivist Challenge to Environmental History,‘ History and Theory, Theme Issue, 42 (Dec. 2003), 60-74 (K) Ian Tyrrell, ‗Ecohistory: New Theories and Approaches,‘ CISH Program (Sydney, 2005), 34-51 (K) Richard White, ‗From Wilderness to Hybrid Landscapes: The Cultural Turn in Environmental History,‘ The Historian, 66 (2004), 557-64 at http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-135425151.html (K) denotes article or excerpt is contained in the Reading Kit (R) denotes article or book available in Open Reserve (Stacks) denotes copies of book are available