This course introduces students to environmental history, the study of the changing relationships between humans and nature through time. We will consider how the natural world has shaped human history; how humans have transformed the environments they have moved through, made use of, and inhabited; and how ideas about nature have shaped people's interactions with the world around them and with one another. Focusing on both historiography and methods, we will read classic and recent work in the field and learn to conduct historical research. We will also pay attention to narrative and the writing of history, through reading, in-class workshops, peer editing, and trying different kinds of historical storytelling. The central assignment will be a short research paper in which students will practice environmental history through the study of a particular place. |