North American Environmental History,

Transcription

1 Professor Thomas Wickman Trinity College Office Hours: F 1-3 pm Office Location: SH - N044 History 208 Fall 2013 TU, TH 1:30-2:45 pm Course Location: SH - S201 North American Environmental History, This course surveys the environmental history of North America and the Caribbean from 1491 to the present. Topics include indigenous practice, colonization, agricultural intensification, industrialization, urbanization, war, waste disposal, and climate change. Above all, the course will be concerned with the political conflicts and social inequities that arose as the continent and its surrounding waters underwent centuries of ecological change. The global environmental contexts and consequences of American political and economic activities also will be emphasized. Graded activities for the semester will consist of the following: Attendance, class participation: 25% Three of the following six writing assignments, one per period: 45% (15% each) o 1a. Controlling Animals in the Colonial Period (2-3 pp., due Sept. 15) OR o 1b. The Idea of Improvement in the Colonial Period (2-3 pp., due Sept. 22) o 2a. Picturing Nature in the 19 th Century (2-3 pp., due Oct. 6) OR o 2b. Violence and Nature in the Late 19 th Century (2-3 pp., due Oct. 27) o 3a. Managing Nature in the Early 20 th Century (2-3 pp., due Nov. 10) OR o 3b. Filming Nature in the Late 20 th Century (2-3 pp., due Nov. 24) Final Essay: The Changing Nature of a City (6-7 pp., due Dec. 10): 30% Required Texts (available for purchase at bookstore): 1. Environmental History and the American South: A Reader, ed. Paul S. Sutter (U. Georgia, 2009) 2. William Cronon, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England (Hill and Wang, 1983, 2003) 3. Susan Scott Parrish, American Curiosity: Cultures of Natural History in the Colonial British Atlantic World (UNC, 2006) 4. American Georgics: Writings on Farming, Culture, and the Land, eds. Edwin C. Hagenstein, Sara M. Gregg, and Brian Donahue (Yale, 2011) 5. Chad Montrie, People s History of Environmentalism in the United States (Continuum, 2011) 6. Henry David Thoreau, Walden (Norton, 2008) 7. Megan Kate Nelson, Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (U. Georgia, 2012) 8. Mark Barrow, Nature s Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology (U. Chicago, 2009). 9. Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism (Cambridge U., 2001) Other assigned readings will be distributed in PDF form by . Students are required to have a digital or print copy of each reading on the designated day of class. 1

2 1. Before and after 1492 Tues., Sept. 3: Introduction Thu., Sept. 5: Promoting the Natural Abundance of the New World 2. Animals in Colonial North America Tue., Sept. 10: Access to Wild Animals: Beavers, Deer, and Migratory Birds chapters 3, 5, pp , Thu., Sept. 12: Fights over Domestic Animals: Pigs, Cows, Sheep, Horses, and Dogs chapter 4, pp Virginia DeJohn Anderson, Animals into the Wilderness: The Development of Livestock Husbandry in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake, Environmental History and the American South (2009), pp WRITING ASSIGNMENT 1a: Controlling Animals in the Colonial Period due Sun., Sept. 15, 8 pm, by 3. Changing Landscapes in the 17 th Century Tue., Sept. 17 : Planting Maize, Tobacco, Wheat, and Rice chapter 2, pp Judith Carney, Landscapes of Technology Transfer: Rice Cultivation and African Continuities, Environmental History and the American South (2009), Thu., Sept. 19: Settlers Encounters with Swamps and Forests chapters 6-8, pp S. Max Edelson, Clearing Swamps, Harvesting Forests: Trees and the Making of a Plantation Landscape in the Colonial South Carolina Lowcountry, Environmental History and the American South (2009), pp WRITING ASSIGNMENT 1b: The Idea of Improvement in the Colonial Period due Sun., Sept. 22, 8 pm, by 4. Pastoral Colonies, Agrarian Nation? Tue., Sept. 24: Pastoral Modes in the Colonial Period Susan Scott Parrish, American Curiosity: Cultures of Natural History in the Colonial British Atlantic World (2006), chapters 3, 5-7 (pp , ). 2

3 Thu., Sept. 26: Georgic Modes in the Early Republic Shaping the Agrarian Republic, , and A Nation of Farmers: The Promise and Peril of American Agriculture, , in American Georgics: Writings on Farming, Culture, and the Land, eds. Edwin C. Hagenstein, Sara M. Gregg, and Brian Donahue (Yale, 2011), pp Idealizing Nature in Industrializing America Tue., Oct. 1: The Natural and Technological Sublime in the Industrial Revolution William Cronon, The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature, Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature (1996), [PDF] Thu., Oct. 3: Escaping to Nature and Protesting Capitalism Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854, 2008), pp. 2-82, , (skip Reading, Brute Neighbors, and Conclusion ). Chad Montrie, Puritan to Yankee Redux: Farming, Fishing, and Our Very Own Dark, Satanic Mills, People s History of Environmentalism in the United States (2011), pp WRITING ASSIGNMENT 2a: Picturing Nature in the 19 th century due Sun., Oct. 6, 8 pm, by 6. The Nature of Violence and Death in the Mid-19 th Century Tue., Oct. 8: Garden Cemeteries and the Politics of the Picturesque Aaron Sachs, American Arcadia: Mount Auburn Cemetery and the Nineteenth-Century Landscape Tradition, Environmental History 15 (April 2010), [PDF] Thu., Oct. 10: Gothic Modes during and after the Civil War Megan Kate Nelson, Ruin Nation: Destruction and the American Civil War (U. Georgia, 2012), introduction, chapter 3, conclusion, pp. 1-9, , Confronting Species Extinctions in the Mid-19 th Century Tue., : Oct. 15: No Classes (Trinity Days) Thu., Oct. 17 : Ideas about Extinction in the Age of Railroads Mark Barrow, Nature s Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), chapters 1, 3, pp , New Western Economies in the Late 19 th Century Tue., Oct. 22: Meat Production and Bison Ecology in the Great Plains Image Assignment: Mark Barrow, Nature s Ghosts: Confronting Extinction from the Age of Jefferson to the Age of Ecology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2009), chapter 4, pp

4 Using ARTstor or Library of Congress, find one striking image related to the environmental history of meat production and it to Professor Wickman by Monday, Oct. 21 at 8 pm Thu., Oct. 24: Gold and Silver Mining in Colorado, Nevada, and California Image Assignment: Using ARTstor or Library of Congress, find one striking image related to the environmental history of mining in the West and it to Professor Wickman by Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 8 pm WRITING ASSIGNMENT 2b: Violence and Nature in the Late 20 th c due Sun., Oct. 27, 8 pm, by 9. Western Conflicts and Catastrophes in the Early 20 th Century Tu., Oct. 29: Conflict over National Parks Chad Montrie, Why Game Wardens Carry Guns and Interpretive Rangers Dress like Soldiers: Class Conflict in Forests and Parks, People s History of Environmentalism in the United States (2011), pp Adam Rome, Nature Wars, Culture Wars: Immigration and Environmental Reform in Progressive America, Environmental History 13 (July 2008), [PDF] Thu., Oct. 31: Controlling Water and Capital in the West Grapes of Wrath (1940, dir. John Ford) 10. Health and Comfort in the First Half of the 20 th Century Tu., Nov. 5: Rich and Poor Environments in 20 th -century Cities Chad Montrie, Missionaries Find the Urban Jungle: Sanitation and Worker Health and Safety, People s History of Environmentalism in the United States (2011), pp Chad Montrie, Green Relief and Recovery: By Which Working People and Nature Get a New Deal, People s History of Environmentalism in the United States (2011), pp Th., Nov. 7: Urban Development and Suburban Sprawl Ted Steinberg, Do-It-Yourself Deathscape: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in South Florida, Environmental History and the American South (2009), pp Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism (Cambridge University Press, 2001), chapters 3-4 (pp ) WRITING ASSIGNMENT 3a: Managing Nature in the Early 20 th c due Sun., Nov. 10, 8 pm, by 11. Green Initiatives and Mass Movements from the 1950s to the 1970s Tu., Nov. 12: From Swamps to Wetlands Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism (Cambridge University Press, 2001), chapter 5, pp Th., Nov. 14: Environmental Legislation before and after Silent Spring 4

5 Back to the Land Again, 1940-Present, in American Georgics: Writings on Farming, Culture, and the Land, eds. Edwin C. Hagenstein, Sara M. Gregg, and Brian Donahue (Yale, 2011), pp Adam Rome, Give Earth a Chance : The Environmental Movement and the Sixties, Journal of American History 90 (September, 2003), [PDF] Adam Rome, The Genius of Earth Day, Environmental History 15 (April 2010), [PDF] 12. Two Protest Movements: Environmental Justice and Monkey Wrenching Tue., Nov. 19: Toxins and Families Eileen Maura McGurty, From NIMBY to Civil Rights: The Origins of the Environmental Justice Movement, Environmental History and the American South (2009), pp Chad Montrie, To Stir Up Dissent and Create Turmoil: Inventing Environmental Justice, People s History of Environmentalism in the United States (2011), pp Thu., Nov. 21: Monkey Wrenching and Ecoterrorism If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front (2011, dir. Marshall Curry, Sam Cullman) WRITING ASSIGNMENT 3b: Filming Nature in the Late 20 th c due Sun., Nov. 24, 8 pm, by 13. Local Responses to Global Capitalism Tue., Nov. 26: Biotech and Imperiled Biodiversity? Food, Inc. (2008, dir. Robert Kenner) Thu., Nov. 28: No Classes (Thanksgiving) 14. A Final Case Study: Alaska in the 21 st Century Tue., Dec. 3: Guest Lecture Into the Wild (2007, dir. Sean Penn) Thu., Dec. 5: Climate Justice and Indigenous Rights Sheila Watt-Cloutier, The Inuit Right to Culture Based on Ice and Snow, in Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril, eds. Kathleen Dean Moore and Michael P. Nelson (San Antonio, TX: Trinity University Press, 2010), [PDF] FINAL WRITING ASSIGNMENT: The Changing Nature of a City due Tue., Dec. 10, 8 pm, by 5