MWF: 9:00-9:50
FALL SEMESTER, 2002
DR. KATHERINE M.B. OSBURN
kosburn@tntech.edu
OFFICE: HENDERSON HALL, RM 110
PH:
372-6297
OFFICE HOURS: MWF: 11:00-12:00; M: 11:00- 3:00, and by appointment.
http://iweb.tntech.edu/kosburn
Environmental history is "the history of the consequences of human actions on the environment and the reciprocal consequences of an altered nature for human society." The goal of this course is to understand the history of humankind's complex relationship with nature by analyzing the interactions between nature and human behavior-- including ideologies, social and political structures, and economic activities. The course is based on the premise that the natural environment is an active participant in history and not a passive object to be developed, contemplated, or preserved.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
SUMMARIES:
While I will give some lectures, this is primarily a discussion course. Slightly
more than one third of your grade, therefore, will be attendance and class
participation. For every reading assignment you must turn in a brief,
write-up that addresses the following questions:
Unless otherwise noted, all reading assignments require a summary. These are worth up to 3 points each. Careful analysis and thoughtful questions will earn the maximum points. Write ups that do not demonstrate adequate knowledge of the material will not get any credit. I will accept late write-ups during the following class ONLY if you missed the previous class discussion. To prevent intellectual colonialism, I will not accept late write-ups if you attended class but did not do the write-up. Making students summarize the readings is designed to ensure that students come to class prepared to discuss them. Finally, I offer a special deal for good students: If you have faithfully turned in great write-ups, you get to choose your own final exam questions. The schedule of reading assignments is designed to keep your reading load light during midterms and finals. Indeed, the last reading assignment is November 22. (If we stay on schedule-ha, ha!)
ATTENDANCE POLICIES: Sometimes students skip class because they have not done the reading. You are, however, better off coming to class unprepared than ditching, since you can, presumably, learn something from the discussions and because I weigh your attendance and class participation heavily. Excessive absences will count against you in assignment of final grades while faithful attendance can push you up a full letter grade if you are on the "borderline."
EXAMS:
Exams are essays. If we vote to do in
class exams, you will have the
essay questions in advance, and you will have some choice as to which questions to answer on the test. In
addition, since testing your ability to memorize things is not one of my
pedagogical goals, you may bring one large 8x5 note card to class with the
outline of the essays you prepared in advance. We
may also vote to do take home exams, in which case you can cut and paste from
your summaries into the essay.
The exception to this is the special deal for good students:
If you have faithfully turned in great write-ups—that is, if you have
accumulated 80 of the 90 possible points--you get to choose your own final exam
question.
LATE
ASSIGNMENTS: All assignments must be turned in on time--that means @
the beginning of the class period for which they are due, not the end of the
period. Thus, if you skip class to finish your work you will be out of luck
because I will not accept it. Late
assignments and papers will not be accepted unless the student can prove,
through appropriate documentation, that an emergency occurred.
Computer problems are not an acceptable emergency, for computers
"know" when you are on a deadline and will deliberately chose not to
function. Having been warned that
this occurs, I suggest you print your work out well before class time.
PROJECTS:
This project is very open-ended and may involve any type of activity connected
with the environment with a research OR service component that can be linked to
the themes developed in the course. All
projects must be cleared with me by the fourth week of class.
All projects are due by November 27.
ASSIGNED TEXTS:
Carolyn
Merchant, Major Problems in Environmental History
Timothy
Silver,
A New Face on
the Countryside
James
H. Kunstler,
James H, Kunstler, The Geography of Nowhere
Daniel
Quinn
Daniel Quinn,
Ishmeal
GRADES:
Total Possible Points:
366:
Exams: 200;
Summaries: 29
@ 4 = 116; Project: 50;
366-330 =
A ; 329-293 = B ; 292-256 = C ; 255-219 = D
SCHEDULE
OF READINGS
Week
1: August 19-23: DEFINING THE
FIELD
Aug. 19:
Introduction: Class objectives & requirements
Aug. 21: Film: Koyaanisqatsi
Aug. 23: What is Environmental History? Merchant,
ch. 1: Essay by Worster
Week
2:
August 26-30: CULTURAL
ECOLOGY: PRE-COLUMBIAN SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS
Aug
26-28: Lecture: The
Great Migration
& The Neolithic
Revolution in the New World
Aug 30:
Native Americans and the Environment, Merchant,
ch. 2: All documents.
Week
3: September 2-6: POST-CONTACT,
PRE-INDUSTRIAL SUBSISTENCE PATTERNS
no
class on monday, Sept 2
Sept. 4: Puritan views of the Land,
Merchant, ch. 3: Just the documents by Bradford, Winthrop, & Morton
Sept. 6: VF: Lecture: New England Indians and the Environment
Week 4: September 9-13 We will hold
class on Monday, but I will be at a conference for Wednesday and Friday of this
week. Please post your responses to chapter
3 of Silver to the web on Wednesday. Friday is a day off!
Sept.
9: Silver, ch. 1 & 2
Sept. 11: VW: Silver, ch.3
Sept. 13: No class.
Week : September 16-20
Sept.
16: Silver, ch. 4
Sept. 18: Silver, ch. 5
Sept. 20: VF: Merchant, Ch. 5 Just the documents by Crevecoeur and Jefferson
Sept.
23: Silver, chs. 6 & 7
Sept. 25: The Cotton South, Merchant,
ch. 7: All essays
INDUSTRIALIZATION
Sept. 27: VF: The Industrial Revolution, Merchant,
ch. 6: Essays by Heiman and McGregor
Sept.
30: Lecture and slide show: The Hudson River School of landscape
painting.
Oct. 2: Mining; Merchant, ch. 8: All documents, I will give a lecture on 19th
century mining techniques.
Oct 4: VF: Ranching; Merchant, ch. 9: Essay by Worster
Week 8: October 7-11 We will hold
class on Monday & Wednesday, but I will be at a conference beginning Friday
of this week and running though next Friday. We’ll have our midterm on
Wednesday and take Friday off. Next
week’s classes will be done on the web.
Oct.
7: Movie: The Plow That Broke the Plains & Lecture: The Dust Bowl
Oct 9: MIDTERM EXAM
Oct. No class
MONDAY IS FALL BREAK
Oct.
16: VW: Wilderness Preservation;
Merchant, ch. 11:All essays.
Oct.
18: VF: Resource
Conservation; Merchant, ch. 10: All essays.
Week 10: October
21-25
CONTEMPORARY ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
Oct.
21: The Emergence of Ecology; Merchant, ch.13:
All documents
Oct. 23: Kunstler, ch. 1-3 and
ch.4, pp. 39-42
Oct. 25: VF: Kunstler,
ch. 6
Week
11: October 28- November 1
Oct.
28: Kunstler, ch. 7
Oct. 30: Kunstler, ch. 12
Nov. 1: VF: Kunstler, ch. 13
Week 12: November 4-8
Nov.
4: The Contemporary
Environmental Movement; Merchant, ch.
15: Documents by: Earth First!, A Business Leader, Carl Anthony, Winona La Duke,
and essay by Borelli.
Nov. 6: Ecofeminism: Charlene Spretnak “Critical and Constructive
Contributions of Ecofeminism” @ http://www.runet.edu/~lridener/courses/ECOFEM.HTML
Nov. 8: VF: Quinn:
1-4
Week 13: November 11-15
Nov.
11: Quinn: 5-8
Nov. 13: Quinn: 9-10
Nov. 15: VF: Quinn: 11-13
Week 14: November 18-22
Nov.18:
Natural Capitalism. Web assignment: Paul Hawken, “Natural Capitalism.” @ http://bsd.mojones.com/mother_jones/MA97/hawken.html
Nov. 20: The Natural Step. Web assignment: Karl-Henrik Robčrt, "Educating
a Nation: The Natural Step," and "That Was When I Became A Slave"
@ www.context.org/ICLIB/IC28/Robert.html
Nov. 22: Guest Lecture: Jon Jonakin, Department of Economics
Week 15: November 25-29
FRIDAY IS THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY
Nov.
25: Lectures on What Have We Done, the Foundation for Global
Sustainability’s report on the state of the Tennessee River Bioregion. During
these discussions, I will bring in various speakers on contemporary
environmental problems in Tennessee.
Nov. 27: What Have We Done, cont’
Nov. 29: No class
Week 16: December 2-6
Dec.
2: Guest lecture, Dodd Galbreath, director, TDEC policy office
Dec. 4-6: Catch-up days
FINAL
EXAMS ARE MONDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1:00-3:00