Environmental historical research began in the 1960s to interpret human history through the lens of both historical and ecological processes. The primary goal is to study the relationship between the physical and biological environments in past human societies. Firstly, there will be a review of the way environmental history thinks of processes in the disciplines and sub-disciplines that have developed. The second thematic unit of the course is the examination of the most important kinds of data that are used in environmental historical research. The classes will discuss scientific, archaeological, and historical sources about their use in the reconstruction of historical environments, climates, and human-nature interactions. The third major group of classes is dedicated to the discussion of case studies. Sometimes and in some places, societies display flexibility and resilience in the face of fluctuations in climate or human-induced changes that affect the immediate environment. At other times and places, small fluctuations or short-term solutions to environmental shifts can spell disaster to the subsistence base of the population, possibly with long-term consequences. Each class will introduce vulnerability and adaptation strategies on status, change, and crisis through examples from roughly the last two millennia.
Course Goals
The course introduces the key concepts and problems in global environmental history. By the end of the course, students should have a basic understanding of fundamental themes in environmental history and relate these, critically and comparatively, to present global environmental change.
The course goal is to offer some insights into how climate and environment affect various parts of the human experience, such as agriculture and subsistence, disease and health, etc., and conversely, to address how human agricultural, industrial, or military activities changed the landscapes, setting in motion possibly unanticipated a
SESSION 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
(30 minute-occasion)
SESSION 2: INTRODUCTION – DEVELOPMENT OF HISTORICAL ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH
The development of environmental history and archaeology strongly connected to environmental thinking has become widespread since the 1960s. However, through the 1980s, environmental history developed a moderately scientific direction after an initial period of experimentation. The class is intended to look at the development of the field, the research questions, and most important methods the different scholars use in historical environmental research.
– McNeill, John R., “Observations on the Nature and Culture of Environmental History,” History and Theory 42/4 (2003), 5–43.
– Pfister, Christian, “The 1950s Syndrome and the Transition from a Slow-Going to a Rapid Loss of Global Sustainability,” in Uekoetter, F. (ed.): The Turning Points in Environmental History (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2010), 90–108.
SESSION 3: SOURCES AND RESEARCH METHODS IN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY
In the last few decades not only scientific and archaeological research became widespread which aimed to reconstruct environmental processes but historians as well studied climate and environmental processes more extensively. Climate historians have built up a system based on which reliable quantitative climate reconstructions were carried out and several groups of evidence has been thoroughly studied. Several environmental impacts (changes in the forest cover, hydrological changes, landscape transformations) of human activity has been demonstrated by environmental historians in the last few decades.
Mandatory readings
– The Capitulare de villis. Several editions. Online: https://www.le.ac.uk/hi/polyptyques/capitulare/trans.html (Links to an external site.)
– Isabelle Chuine et al., “Grape Ripening as a Past Climate Indicator.” Nature 432/18 (2004): 289–290.
– Finn Arne Jørgensen and Malin Kristine Graesse. Past Photos in Present Landscapes: Reph
At the end of the course, the learner will be able to understand historical transformations in climate and weather patterns
At the end of the course, the learner will be able to analyze climate datasets
At the end of the course, the learner will be able to understand the complexity of human-animal relations
At the end of the course, the learner will understand how past societies responded to and coped with disasters
No prerequisites are necessary for the course
Included in the schedule
– Seminars
– Short presentations (individual or group)
Transcript of records