HIST 345: Environmental History

Fall Term, 2004, T-R 8:00am
Prof. Jan Bender Shetler
Office: Wyse 311, phone 7108, email jans@goshen.edu

I. COURSE DESCRIPTION

 A comparative studies in world history course.  Exploration of human interaction with the environment over time, particularly in the nonwestern world.  Examination of the material and ideological conditions which have lead to preservation or destruction of the environment through a comparative case study approach.

II. PURPOSE AND PERSPECTIVE

1. To gain knowledge of the issues and concepts that defines the field of environmental history using the tools of comparative history.
1. What has been the historical relationship of people to their environment?
2. How have people changed their environments and how have their environments changed them?
3. How have environmental factors changed the course of history?
4. Can new insights into environmental history be gained by comparison with other times and places?
2. To apply this knowledge to specific environmental issues that confronts our society today.

1. Under what conditions have people preserved or destroyed the environment in different times and places?
2. Why are the interests of people and the environment often at odds?
3. Can environmentalist concerns be combined with those of social justice?

3. To practice the historian’s craft by developing the art of reading critically, evaluating historical sources, articulating ideas in a group setting, and expressing arguments clearly in writing.
1. How can ecological data be used as historical sources and what other sources can we use to learn about past environments?
2. How do our convictions about environmental preservation influence our scholarship?
3. How does the way that we imagine the landscape influence our interaction with the environment?

III. BOOKS TO PURCHASE (other articles on Library Reserve)
Peter Atkins, Ian Simmons, Brian Roberts.  People, Land and Time:  An Historical Introduction to the Relations between Lanscape, Culture and Environment (London:  John Wiley and Sons, 1998).
Candace Slater, Entangled Edens: Visions of the Amazon (Berkeley: U of California Press, 2002).
Mike Davis, Late Victorian Holocausts:  El NinoFamines and the Making of the Third World (Verso, 2001).
Michael L. Lewis, Inventing Global Ecology:  Tracking the Biodiversity Ideal in India, 1947-1997 (Ohio U Press, 2004)

IV. COURSE POLICIES

1. Attendance at all classes is mandatory.  After three unexcused absences your grade will drop one percentage point for each day you are absent.  Please inform me in advance of absences for school functions.  Exams and discussion participation on days of unexcused absences cannot be made up.  Discussion participation cannot be made up even for excused absences.
2. You demonstrate respect for the teacher and fellow students by prompt arrival and attentiveness in class.  After the roll is taken tardiness is treated the same as an absence.   Plagiarism in written assignments will not be tolerated.
3. Reading questions must be completed before the class for which they are assigned. Students must come to class with their answers typed ready for the discussion sections. 
4. Extensions on papers are granted only in unusual circumstances and at least 3 days in advance of the deadline.  If you are sick or for some medical reason could not complete the assignment let me know as soon as possible.  Any late work, which has not been cleared with me in advance, will be reduced by ten percentage points for each class day that it is late.  If you have a scheduled school activity, please turn your assignment in ahead of time.
5. NOTE:  This is an intensive reading and writing course.  You should expect to do at least 2-3 hours of reading/writing for every hour in class.  I am assuming that you can read about 15-25 pages/hour depending on the reading.  If you find yourself reading much slower than this you will have to learn how to skim. If you don’t keep up with reading each day you will not be able to pass the class.  Make sure you arrange your schedules to make this possible.
6. If you have a disability and require accommodations, please contact the instructor early in the semester so that your learning needs may be appropriately met.  In order to receive accommodations, documentation concerning your disability must be on file with the Academic Support Center, KU004, x 7576, margotmz@goshen.edu.  All information will be held in the strictest confidence.
7. Because I am leaving early for SST the class will be front-end loaded, that is you will have a heavy work load in the beginning but will take your final exam after Thanksgiving and be finished.  Because we are finishing early and I will miss two other class days for conferences we will make up four days of class with two Tuesday evening sessions, see syllabus for the dates and plan accordingly.

V. COURSE REQUIREMENTS

1. Regular class attendance and active participation in the discussions.
1. You learn only as much as you invest yourself in the class by participating in discussions.  We will also have scheduled small group discussions, with full class discussion occurring each day we meet.  The make up of the groups will remain constant and you are expected to facilitate your own discussions and come prepared.  You will earn points for your participation.
2. At mid-term and the end of the term I will award class participation points based on your regular involvement in class discussion. Questions will also be posted on the Blackboard course site if you do not feel comfortable speaking in class.
3. In preparation for discussion groups you will be required to prepare discussion questions, worth five points each.  These should be no more than one page in length and be divided into the following points:

1. What was the main point of the reading(s) for today?  What critique would you bring to these readings?
2. Using this reading and other class materials, how would you answer the main discussion question for today? (question posted in the syllabus or on the Blackboard site)
3. What points would you like to bring up for clarification or further discussion?  What did you find the most interesting?

2. Quizzes

There will be regular quizzes worth 5 points each administered according to the syllabus.  This is meant as a quick check on whether you are doing the reading, simple and objective. 

3. Exams

Three tests, one after each section in the course, essay and identification, 50 points each with the final worth 100 points.

4. Papers
1. Cultural Landscapes Paper (3-5 pages)

1. Describe a "cultural landscape" that you know well as it has changed over time. 
2. How does it reflect the cultural and social values of the people who created it?  How has this environment shaped the society that developed here?
3. No sources/citation required, this should come from your memories of a landscape that you know well.

2. Final Project (8-10 pages)

1. You will choose a final project among a number of options early in the semester.  I expect you to be working on this project throughout the semester and not just in the last weeks.
2. You will choose a topic which allows you to explore the interaction between people and the environment in a particular place and time following one of the topics of study for the semester:
1. Famine or land degradation issues as it effects local people
2. Parks or conservation projects in relation to people who live there
3. Another topic as it is cleared with me
3. Choose a specific geographical region or an organization to focus on.  Your paper will be a more in depth look at one place, organization or issue.  See Blackboard for suggestions.
4. You will present your findings to the class at the end of the semester in short presentations as indicated on the syllabus. 
5. If you are taking this as an SST alternative you may explore with me the possibility of doing a Service Learning Project instead.  This would require 20 hours of volunteer work with a local environmental or parks organization.  See me as early as possible if you are interested in this kind of placement.  Some suggestions on the Blackboard site. Your written paper will be a report on how your experience with this organization reflects some of the issues that we have discussed in class.
6. All papers will follow these quidelines:
1. Citations in Turbian or Chicago style footnotes, see Good Library website for form.  Must include a bibliography.
2. Write a thesis essay that is supported by specific historical evidence rather than opinion, including counter-arguments. 
3. See criteria for grading papers on the Blackboard website.

5. Extra Credit Options – There will be various possibilities for this during the semester, including a conference at Merry Lea in October, see syllabus.

VI. GRADING

Quizzes on readings (8 x 5 points each)                         40

Discussion Questions (8 x 5 points each)                       40

Participation (class, groups, on-line)                              40

Papers  and project                                                     200
            Project proposals (1 page)                10                   
Cultural landscapes (3-5 pages)                     50
            Class Presentation                             40
            Final Paper                                       100       
Tests (2 x 50 points + 100)                                         200
TOTAL                                                                      520 pts.

Environmental History