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76248-01 - Seminar: Environmental Histories of Southern Africa (3 CP)
| Semester | fall semester 2025 |
| Course frequency | Once only |
| Lecturers | Marie Muschalek (marie.muschalek@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | What can we learn about southern African history, its societies and cultures, if we examine more carefully humans’ relation to the weather, the seasons, to stones and mountains, to water, rivers and oceans, to plants and forests, or to animals, domestic and wild? In this course, we pay particular attention to the nonhuman world and the interaction of humans with their environments in our exploration of southern African history from precolonial times to the late twentieth century. Sudents will read a selection of canonical environmental history texts as well as recent, thought-provoking scholarly pieces, asking about the methodological and theoretical impulses, often interdisciplinary, these have given to the study of the southern African past. And, we will inquire into the specific contributions these African histories have made to the field of environmental history. Throughout the course we will also delve into some primary sources, and we will seek to address a variety of themes that have been quite formative for the southern African context: agriculture and pastoralism; hunting, wildlife, and conservation; resource extraction and grand technological schemes; indigenous knowledge and colonial natural history; urbanization, land use and rights; environmental justice. |
| Learning objectives | • Seek a better understanding of the dynamic, interdisciplinary field of environmental history • Get familiarized with the methodological tools deployed by environmental history • Practice extensive reading to improve your grasp of the debates and conversations that are currently relevant within this historiographical subfield • Refine your historical reasoning and writing |
| Bibliography | [Introductory reading:] Peša, Iva. “A Planetary Anthropocene? Views From Africa.” Isis 113, no. 2 (2022): 386–95. https://doi.org/10.1086/719630. Swart, Sandra. “At the Edge of the Anthropocene: Crossing Borders in Southern African Environmental History.” South African Historical Journal 73, no. 1 (2021): 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/02582473.2021.1939768. [Readings may include:] Adams, Jonathan S., and Thomas McShane. The Myth of Wild Africa: Conservation without Illusion. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997. Hammel, Tanja. Shaping Natural History and Settler Society: Mary Elizabeth Barber and the Nineteenth-Century Cape. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2019. Kalb, Martin. Environing Empire: Nature, Infrastructure, and the Making of German Southwest Africa. Vol. Volume 23. Environment in History: International Perspectives. New York: Berghahn, 2022. Lenggenhager, Luregn, Martha Akawa, Giorgio Miescher, Romie Nghitevelekwa, and Ndidzulafhi Innocent Sinthumule (eds.) The Lower !Garib - Orange River: Pasts and Presents of a Southern African Border Region. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2023. Osseo-Asare, Abena Dove. Bitter Roots: The Search for Healing Plants in Africa. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2014. Swart, Sandra. The Lion’s Historian: Africa’s Animal Past. Auckland Park, South Africa: Jacama Media, 2023. Takuva, Tinashe. “‘Rains Come from the Gods!’: Anthropocene and the History of Rainmaking Rituals in Zimbabwe with Reference to Mberengwa District, c. 1890–2000.” South African Historical Journal 73, no. 1 (2021): 138–61. Thompsell, Angela. Hunting Africa: British Sport, African Knowledge, and the Nature of Empire. Britain and the World. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. Tischler, Julia. Cultivating Race: Transatlantic Agricultural Reform in South Africa, c. 1900–1950. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2025. |
| Admission requirements | Für Masterstudierende sowie fortgeschrittene Bachelorstudierende mit abgeschlossener Grundstufe (Nachweis: drei Proseminare, drei Proseminararbeiten). Die Teilnehmer:innenzahl ist auf 25 beschränkt. Bei Überbelegung werden Studierende der Geschichte bevorzugt zugelassen. |
| Course application | The seminar is limited to 20 participants; please understand that admission will be granted on a first come, first served basis. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Monday | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
Dates
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Monday 15.09.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 22.09.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 29.09.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 06.10.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 13.10.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 20.10.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 27.10.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 03.11.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 10.11.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 17.11.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 24.11.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 01.12.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 08.12.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Monday 15.12.2025 | 10.15-12.00 | Departement Geschichte, Seminarraum 3 |
| Modules |
Modul: Areas: Afrika (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Aufbau Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Bachelor's degree subject: History) Modul: Epochen der europäischen Geschichte: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Neuere / Neueste Geschichte (Master's degree subject: History) Module: Europeanization and Globalization (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) Module: Fields: Environment and Development (Master's degree program: African Studies) Module: Fields: Knowledge Production and Transfer (Master's degree program: African Studies) Specialization Module Global Europe: Environment and Sustainability (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | Aktive Teilnahme. |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | no repetition |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Departement Geschichte |