AMS 3015 - AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

credits: 3.0
Crosslisted/Same As: HIS 3015
AMS 3015-HIS 3015. Environmental History is the study of the interaction between human beings and the environments in which they live. In this course we will focus on the environmental history of the United States by exploring episodes of such interactions from early European contact with Native Americans to the present: Indian and colonist relations in New England, the cotton culture of the South, urban pollution and industrialization in the late nineteenth century, the near extinction of the American Bison, wilderness preservation in the twentieth century, environmental politics in the post-World War II era. In studying this material we will ask several questions: how did people living in a particular place at a particular time use and transform their environment? How has the natural environment shaped the cultural and political values and practices of the people living within it? How have groups of people organized themselves to manage or conserve resources? How have differences in race, class, gender and ethnicity influenced people’s interaction with the environment? Objectives: A) Identify and describe ways in which Americans have used and transformed their environment; B) Identify and describe ways in which the environment has shaped the cultural and political practices of people interacting with it; C) Identify and describe ways in which people’s ideas about nature have shaped their interaction with the environment; D) identify and describe ways in which differences in race, class, gender and ethnicity have influenced people’s interaction with the environment; E) Demonstrate an informed understanding of a contemporary environmental issue; F) Analyze and interpret a variety of primary and secondary sources; G) Synthesize information drawn from a variety of primary and secondary sources; H) Demonstrate effective communication. Method of Instruction: Seminar and discussion. Method of Evaluation: Participation, medium paper, research paper and class presentation. Meets *WRT and *WEP Distribution Requirements.