Environmental History
Objectives
1- Understand operative concepts and the distinctive typologies of sources used in Environmental History.
2- Understand that interdisciplinarity is indispensable for the study of environmental history in the long term.
3- Understand the need to establish approaches of micro-history, comparative and global history in the apprehension of the environment and its changes.
4- Know theoretical-methodological practices as well as historical narratives related to the environment.
5- Identify practices and dependence and extraction of resources and key moments in the dynamics of impact and change in ecosystems.
6- Understand the interaction of the human species and the European societies, in particular, with the environments in which they are inserted in a context of long chronology.
7- Acquire the ability to elaborate a written text on the subject, using diverse sources and thinking it through critically.
General characterization
Code
01110275
Credits
6.0
Responsible teacher
Nina Vieira Portugal Azevedo
Hours
Weekly - 4
Total - 168
Teaching language
Portuguese
Prerequisites
Available soon
Bibliography
Brito, Cristina, 2023. Humans and Aquatic Animals in Early Modern America and Africa. Amsterdam University Press.
Isenberg, Andrew C (Ed), 2017, The Oxford Handbook of Environmental History. Oxford University Press.
Marks, R.B. 2015. ‘Exhausting the Earth’: Environment and history in the early modern world. In JH. Bentley, S Subrahmanyam; ME. Wiesner-Hanks (Eds). The Cambridge World History. Volume VI. The Construction of a Global World, 1400-1800 CE. Part I: Foundations. The Cambridge World History. Cambridge University Press.
McNeill, J.R. 2011. The Historiography of Environmental History. In A Schneider & D Woolf (Eds) V. 5: Historical Writing since 194. In D Woolf (Ed.) The Oxford History of Historical Writing. Oxford University Press: 159-176.
Beattie, J & Anderson, E. 2021. Ecology: Environments and Empires in World History, 3000 BCE - ca. 1900 CE. In Bang, P.F., Bayly, C.A. & Scheidel, W. (Eds) The Oxford World History of Empire: Volume One: The Imperial Experience.
Teaching method
Theoretical exposition of the topics to be addressed by the lecturers, including the organization of short seminars by other teachers and invited specialists. Practical classes integrate the analysis and interpretation of sources and scientific articles by the students, as well as their presentation in oral and written format. Field trips to places appropriate to the themes developed in class complement the theoretical expositions in the classroom.
Evaluation method
Continuous assessment
Assessment comprises three parts: a continuous assessment of class participation (20%), a mid-term test to assess theoretical content (30%) and a final assignment (50%). - 100.0%
Subject matter
1- Introduction to Environmental History: Concepts, Issues, Methodologies and Sources.
2 - Marine resource extractions, uses and practices in oceans and coastal zones.
3 - Freshwaters, hydraulic systems and their use.
4 - Agriculture: From the first agricultural forms to intensive and transgenic agriculture.
5 - Forestry, exploitation of fauna and flora resources. Extinctions.
6 - Exploitation of subsoil resources.
7 - Climate and climate change.
8 - Major debates and reflections around the environment: The Anthropocene, Conservation, Sustainability, Pollution. Agenda 2030.