HST 381 - Environmental History of the Global South

Min Units: 3
Max Units: 3
This course will explore the relationship between humans and the environment in the Global South. Although we will primarily focus on Asia, Africa, and Latin America, we will also study the active intercourse that these geographical regions had with Europe and North America. At its fundamental level this course will examine the various ways that mankind has shaped and transformed its surrounding ecosystems, and the political, social, cultural, and economic projects that drove this transformation. This course will treat humans as one of many species within an ecosystem, while recognizing mankind’s deleterious impact on the environment in pursuit of modernity. We will also discuss how activists and indigenous people have resisted detrimental state and global projects in order to preserve and protect local environments. During the semester we will consider the environment as it relates to imperialism, resource depletion, global economic development, politics, religion, climate change, gender, the nation-state, conservation, and global commodities. In so doing we will utilize a variety of sources, including memoirs, biographies, historical, anthropological, and sociological studies, and scientific texts. (U/G) Occasionally