Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this module students should:
- Move away from traditional Eurocentric and Anthropocentric histories of the modern world.
- Demonstrate awareness of the ways in which human societies transformed and were shaped by
the environment at a global scale throughout the modern age.
- Understood the long term historical roots of the current environmental crisis and of
environmentalist thought.
- Develop a reflexivity about the past, present and future of the current environmental crisis.
- Acquire a capacity to read, summarize, contextualize, analyze critically, present and discuss texts
in global environmental history.
- Contribute in a meaningful way to class discussions by demonstrating critical engagement with
the weekly mandatory readings.
Indicative Module Content:
This module will address such topics as:
- The Anthropocene: the historical roots of the global environmental crisis
- How the West came to rule? A global environmental history of the early modern European expansion
- The Capitalocene: capitalism and the historical roots of global warming
- Global extractivism and carbon colonialism: the global exploitation of natural resources and fossil fuels
- The contamination of the earth: the historical roots of global pollution
- Energy transition? The history of energy in environmental perspective
- Anti-environmental politics and ideologies from productivism to climate denialism
- The history of climate and environmental awareness
- A global history of environmentalist thought and movements
- The Polemocene: environmental changes and socio-political struggles since 1750