Not offered 2007-2008
HIST 192 War and the Disruption of Nature (Same as Environmental Studies 192) (W)
Everyone knows war is bad for the environment, but the ways in which wars affect people's environments go far beyond simply the devastation from bombs and other offensive attacks.
Wars fundamentally disrupt how societies utilize and allocate a wide variety of resources,
such as land, energy sources, and water. Moreover, with the enormous loss of human life
and with the devastation of regional or national economies, wars set off a chain of political
and societal reactions that have profound transformations in how people interact with nature
for decades to follow. This course will look historically at the environmental dislocations
produced by wars and even military production during peaceful time, focusing in particular
on the twentieth century. After doing a broad review of the larger historical themes of the
course, we will explore several case studies that span different continents.
Format: seminar. Evaluation will be based on class participation, weekly short writing assignments and frequent peer editing, several short papers, and a final 6- to 8-page research
paper.
No prerequisites. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 19). Preference will be given to first-year
students, and then sophomores, who have not previously taken a 100-level seminar.
Group A
MERRILL