Environmental history is an approach to history-writing that centres the environment as a determinative agent in human history. Through engagement with recent works of environmental history, students will come to understand the discipline and its connection to global history. Particular attention will be given to how human societies have transformed environments and, conversely, how environmental forces have shaped the course of history, and how ideas about “nature” and the environment have evolved over time. Topics will include Indigenous peoples and nature, “more-than-human” histories (or human-animal relations), climate and weather, food and agriculture, microbes and insects, war and resources, labour, energy, and inequality. Students will leave the course with a deeper understanding of environmental history as a subset of, or companion to, global history. Course work will consist of seminar participation, a primary source analysis, essay proposal and bibliography, and a final essay or creative assignment.
