Environmental History: Nature and the Western World, 1800-2000
| Code | School | Level | Credits | Semesters |
| HIST2008 | History | 2 | 20 | Spring UK |
- Code
- HIST2008
- School
- History
- Level
- 2
- Credits
- 20
- Semesters
- Spring UK
Summary
The module is an introduction to the environmental history of the Western World over the past two centuries. It examines the history of environmental ideas and our changing attitudes to animals and nature, alongside the history of human impacts on the environment using the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Great Britain as case studies. Topics include species history, the rise of popular movements concerned with the environment, the role of the state in environmental protection, the history of pollution and pesticide use; the National Park movement and the Nature Reserve and the rise of outdoor leisure and recreation. The role of wildlife television and natural history film-making will also be examined.
Target Students
Students must have taken HIST1001 or HIST1002. Also available to exchange students hosted by the Department of History, plus students on BSc Hons Environmental Science, BSc Hons Environmental Biology and MSci Hons Environmental Science. Liberal Arts students as well.
Classes
- One 1-hour seminar each week for 10 weeks
- One 2-hour lecture each week for 10 weeks
Assessment
- 50% Coursework 1: Piece of individually assessed coursework
- 50% Coursework 2: Piece of individually assessed coursework
Assessed by end of spring semester
Educational Aims
If we accept that the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have seen the most dramatic environmental changes in human history, then as we enter the twenty-first century it becomes more and more pressing for scholarship to offer insights into the nature and speed of that change, and human reactions to it. The module will challenge students to locate the present in the past by investigating the relationship between environmental history, contemporary social movements and political processes. Students will come to understand the history of environmental ideas and of environmental practice, in the sense of examining the impact of man on the natural world over a range of continents.Learning Outcomes
a. Knowledge and understanding: Students should be able to
• explain and interpret events in the environmental history of the Western World from 1800 to the present
• explain and interpret the nature of people's lives in the past and their differing motives, attitudes and reactions to nature and the environment
• evaluate how different societies have reacted to their surrounding environments
• show an awareness of how environmental history contributes to a full understanding of human history on the planet
• think about why the discipline of history must include the historical study of the relationships between human and natural environments
b. Intellectual skills: Students should be able to
• think critically and imaginatively about the past
• identify and address key problems and issues in environmental history
• understand how environmental history is an important tool in understanding human history, and works alongside social, political, economic and cultural history
• construct coherent and independent historical arguments
c. Professional/practical skills: Develop students' ability to
• select, shift and synthesize information from a wide range of primary and secondary sources, and from the social and natural sciences
• identify and compare arguments in the use of this source material
• plan, research and write a substantial piece of historical research
• use IT to access historical sources and information
d. Transferable skills: Develop the students' ability to
• manage a large, disparate and often incomplete body of information
• express themselves clearly, coherently and fluently in writing essays
• give a clear, fluent and well-structured oral presentation in class
• work and learn actively with others
• manage and take responsibility for their own learning
• use IT for research and presentation purposes