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| Semester | fall semester 2024 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Corey David Ross (corey.ross@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Over the past three decades, historians become increasingly interested in reconstructing the past on a global scale. At same time, they have increasingly turned attention to the relations between human societies and biophysical environments, and how efforts to subjugate nature in the past have shaped the environmental predicaments that we currently face today. In this course, we will examine the environmental dimensions and consequences of some of the central themes in modern world history, including imperialism, industrialization, capitalism, mass consumption, urbanization, and warfare. We will also consider some of the major issues of modern environmental history, such as energy transitions, pollution, conservation, the rise of environmental movements, and climate. Throughout the course, we will trace these developments in relation to evolving power structures, cultural values, social hierarchies and ideas about the environment. Focusing particularly (but not exclusively) on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the course will enable students to understand not only how human activities have reshaped the global environment, but also how environmental factors shaped modern world history. |
| Learning objectives | The lecture provides an insight into the latest debates in environmental and global history. Students will learn about the empirical foundation of historical assertions and the methodologies employed to examine the role of environmental and ecological factors on historical processes. Students will also gain a clearer understanding of how the past still shapes environmental problems and debates today. |
| Bibliography | John McNeill, Something new under the sun: an environmental history of the twentieth-century world (2000). Robert Marks, The origins of the modern world: a global and ecological narrative from the fifteenth to the twenty-first century (2007). K. Pomeranz, E. Burke (eds), The environment and world history (2009). Joachim Radkau, Nature and power: a global history of the environment (2008). Optional literature: Frank Uekötter: The Vortex: An environmental history of the modern world (2023). Alfred Crosby, Ecological imperialism: the biological expansion of Europe, 900-1900 (1986, 2004). Corey Ross, Ecology and power in the age of empire (2017). |
| Weblink | Europainstitut |
| Course application | Via MOnA. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | No specific media used |
| Course auditors welcome |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Thursday | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 19.09.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 26.09.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 03.10.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 10.10.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 17.10.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 24.10.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 31.10.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 07.11.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 14.11.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 21.11.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 28.11.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 05.12.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 12.12.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Thursday 19.12.2024 | 10.15-12.00 | Kollegienhaus, Hörsaal 114 |
| Modules |
Modul: Areas: Europa Global (Master's degree program: European History in Global Perspective) Modul: Basis 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: Synthese (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: Resources and Sustainability (Master's degree program: Changing Societies: Migration – Conflicts – Resources) Specialization Module Global Europe: Environment and Sustainability (Master's Studies: European Global Studies) |
| Assessment format | record of achievement |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | 1-6 0,5 |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | University of Basel |
| Offered by | Europainstitut |