ENSb1288 Environmental History

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2025
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 6 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Péter Szabó, Ph.D. M.A. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Lubor Kysučan, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Lubor Kysučan, Ph.D.
Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Kateřina Hendrychová
Supplier department: Department of Environmental Studies – Faculty of Social Studies
Prerequisites (in Czech)
! ENS288 Environmental History &&!NOW( ENS288 Environmental History )&&! GLCb2015 Environmental history
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The main goal of the course is to make students familiar with the subject and methodology of environmental history and the evolution of interactions between nature and human civilization from prehistory until today.
Learning outcomes
Student is able to collect and compare environmental data coming from different periods of human history and s/heis able to apply adopted methdology of the discipline in the reserach and interpretation of environmental phenomena in different periods of history.
Syllabus
  • 1. Environmental history – subject definition and its interdisciplinary character, methodology and sources.
  • 2. Environment and human civilization. Nature as sacred spacce. Sacrality of nature and profane practice.
  • 3. Human attitude toward the nature in the prehistory. Hunter-gatherers societies. Neolithic revolution and its consequencies. The influence of nature conditions on the development of early civilizations.
  • 4. The nature disasters in the history (volcanism, floods, earthquakes). The flood myth.
  • 5. The climatic changes in the history and environmental migration.
  • 6. Environmental disasters in the civilizations of ancient Mediterranean, Middle East, India, Far East and Pre-Columbian America – degradation of arable soil, deforestation. The impact of environmental problems on the collapse of ancient civilizations.
  • 7. The cultural landcscape of the ancient world. The attitude toward the nature in the civilizations of ancient Greece and Rome. The lifestyle of ancient man in the context of the attitude toward the nature. The escape in the nature, thy myth of the country, arcadian landcsape and bucolic poetry. The criticism of the consumerism and search for the alternatives in the philosophy, religion and the everyday life. The attitude toward the animals and plants in the ancient culture. The domestic animals, hunting and games. Vegetarianism in the classical antiquity.
  • 8. The environmental problems of ancient Mediterrannean. Deforestation. The globalization of the economy and the globalization of the economic problems. The ancient agriculture in the socio-economic and environmental context. The ancient city and its economic problems. Care about environment in the antiquity – administration and legislation.
  • 9. The environment and landscape in the Middle Ages. Agricultural colonization and its impact.
  • 10. The expansion of the occidental civilization in the modern period and its environmental impact. Exploratory voayages, colonization of the non-European countries.
  • 11. The industrial revolution and its consequencies. Conceptualization and politization of the environment. Environmental movement. Institutionalization of the nature conservation and environment protection.
  • 12. Environmental history of the Czech Lands. Early medieval colonization. Economic development in early modern period, the phenomenon of the ponds. The phenomenon of the baroque landscape. Industrialization and its impact.
Literature
    required literature
  • Coates, Peter. Nature: Western Attitudes since Ancient Times. Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 1998. Pages 1–22
  • McNeill, John R. “The state of the field of environmental history.” Annual Review of Environment and Resources 35 (2010): 345–374
  • Steffen, Will, Crutzen, Paul. J. and McNeill, John. R. “The Anthropocene: are humans now overwhelming the great forces of nature.” AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment 36 (2007): 614–621
  • White, Lynn Jr. “The historical roots of our ecological crisis.” Science 155 (1967): 1203–1207
  • Harper, Kyle. “The environmental fall of the Roman Empire.” Daedalus 145 (2016): 101–111
Teaching methods
– lecture – group discussion – film projection
Assessment methods
– written test
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: every week.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2020, Spring 2021, Spring 2022.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2025, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2025/ENSb1288