ENSn4653 Environmental History

Faculty of Social Studies
Autumn 2023
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 7 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Péter Szabó, Ph.D. M.A. (lecturer)
doc. PhDr. Lubor Kysučan, Ph.D. (lecturer)
doc. Mgr. Karel Stibral, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. Mgr. Karel Stibral, 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
Timetable
Mon 14:00–15:40 P24a
Prerequisites
! HEN653 Environmental History &&!NOW( HEN653 Environmental History )&&TYP_STUDIA(N)
Basic orientation in history and environmental studies. Ability to read scientific literature in English.
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
Students learn about the most important topics in environmental history. The course does not follow a traditional chronological design but focuses on critical thinking about the history of the environment and what such knowledge means in today's world.
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course, students will be able to: - identify and summarize the most important issues in environmental history - identify sources and methods in environmental history research and evaluate their usefulness - apply knowledge of environmental history to contemporary environmental problems
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction - definition and history of environmental history 2. Sources of information in environmental history 3. Forests and wilderness I - lecture 4. Forests and wilderness II - discussion Compulsory reading: i) Cronon, William. "The trouble with wilderness: or, getting back to the wrong nature." Environmental history 1.1 (1996): 7-28. ii) Vera, Frans. "The shifting baseline syndrome in restoration ecology." Restoration and history: The search for a usable environmental past (2010): 98-110. 5. Volcanism in history I - lecture 6. Volcanism in history II - discussion Compulsory reading: i) Freewalt, Jason. „The Theran disruption: the Minoan eruption of Thera and its possible impact on civilizations.“ World History Seminar – American Military University, 2013. 1-25. ii) Thordarson, Thorvaldur. "Atmospheric and environmental effects of the 1783–1784 Laki eruption: A review and reassessment." Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, D1 (2003): 1-29. 7. Environmental problems and the collapse of antique civilizations I - lecture 8. Environmental problems and the collapse of antique civilizations II – discussion Compulsory reading: i) Navrátil Tomáš - Rohovec, Jan. „Olovo. Těžká minulost jednoho z těžkých kovů.“ Vesmír 85, 9 (2006): 518-521. ii) Harper, Kyle. “The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire.” Daedalus 145, 2 (2016): 101-111. 9. Climate I – lecture 10. Climate II – discussion Compulsory reading: (i) Behringer, Wolfgang. "Climatic change and witch-hunting: the impact of the Little Ice Age on mentalities." Climatic Change 43.1 (1999): 335-351. (ii) Pfister, Christian. "The vulnerability of past societies to climatic variation: a new focus for historical climatology in the twenty-first century." Climatic change 100.1 (2010): 25-31. 11. Invasions and epidemics I – lecture 12. Invasions and epidemics II – discussion Compulsory reading: (i) Izdebski, Adam, et al. "Palaeoecological data indicates land-use changes across Europe linked to spatial heterogeneity in mortality during the Black Death pandemic." Nature Ecology & Evolution 6.3 (2022): 297-306. (ii) Clavero, Miguel, et al. "Interdisciplinarity to reconstruct historical introductions: solving the status of cryptogenic crayfish." Biological Reviews 91.4 (2016): 1036-1049. 13. Anthropocene Compulsory reading: (i) Konopásek, Zdeněk. „Antropocén: více než jeden, méně než dva.“ In: Antropocén. Ed. Petr Pokorný a David Štorch, pp. 32-50. Praha, Academia, 2020.
Literature
    required literature
  • Cronon, William. "The trouble with wilderness: or, getting back to the wrong nature." Environmental history 1.1 (1996): 7-28.
  • Vera, Frans. "The shifting baseline syndrome in restoration ecology." Restoration and history: The search for a usable environmental past (2010): 98-110.
  • Freewalt, Jason. „The Theran disruption: the Minoan eruption of Thera and its possible impact on civilizations.“ World History Seminar – American Military University, 2013. 1-25.
  • Thordarson, Thorvaldur. "Atmospheric and environmental effects of the 1783–1784 Laki eruption: A review and reassessment." Journal of Geophysical Research, 108, D1 (2003): 1-29.
  • Navrátil Tomáš - Rohovec, Jan. „Olovo. Těžká minulost jednoho z těžkých kovů.“ Vesmír 85, 9 (2006): 518-521.
  • Harper, Kyle. “The Environmental Fall of the Roman Empire.” Daedalus 145, 2 (2016): 101-111.
  • Behringer, Wolfgang. "Climatic change and witch-hunting: the impact of the Little Ice Age on mentalities." Climatic Change 43.1 (1999): 335-351.
  • Pfister, Christian. "The vulnerability of past societies to climatic variation: a new focus for historical climatology in the twenty-first century." Climatic change 100.1 (2010): 25-31.
  • Izdebski, Adam, et al. "Palaeoecological data indicates land-use changes across Europe linked to spatial heterogeneity in mortality during the Black Death pandemic." Nature Ecology & Evolution 6.3 (2022): 297-306.
  • Clavero, Miguel, et al. "Interdisciplinarity to reconstruct historical introductions: solving the status of cryptogenic crayfish." Biological Reviews 91.4 (2016): 1036-1049.
  • Konopásek, Zdeněk. „Antropocén: více než jeden, méně než dva.“ In: Antropocén. Ed. Petr Pokorný a David Štorch, pp. 32-50. Praha, Academia, 2020.
    recommended literature
  • HOFFMANN, Richard C. An environmental history of medieval Europe. First published. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014, xvii, 409. ISBN 9780521876964. info
  • HUGHES, J. Donald. Environmental problems of the Greeks and Romans : ecology in the ancient Mediterranean. Second edition. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014, x, 306. ISBN 9781421412115. info
  • MCNEILL, John Robert and Peter ENGELKE. The great acceleration : an environmental history of the anthropocene since 1945. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Belknap press of Harvard university press, 2014, 275 stran. ISBN 9780674545038. info
  • The Oxford handbook of environmental history. Edited by Andrew C. Isenberg. Oxford: Oxford university press, 2014, xiv, 783. ISBN 9780195324907. info
  • Global environmental history : an introductory reader. Edited by John Robert McNeill - Alan Roe. First published. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013, xxvi, 449. ISBN 9780415520539. info
  • KYSUČAN, Lubor. Oni a my : dvanáct neodbytných otázek mezi antikou a postmodernou. První vydání. Brno: Lipka - školské zařízení pro environmentální vzdělávání, 2010, 240 stran. ISBN 9788090480704. info
  • Encyclopedia of world environmental history. Edited by Shepard Krech - John Robert McNeill - Carolyn Merchant. New York: Routledge, 2004, v s. ISBN 0415937353. info
  • The retreat of the elephantsan environmental history of China. Edited by Mark Elvin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004, xxviii, 56. ISBN 0300101112. info
  • MCNEILL, John Robert. Something new under the sun : an environmental history of the twentieth-century world. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2000, xxvi, 421. ISBN 0393321835. info
    not specified
  • Human nature : studies in historical ecology and environmental history. Edited by Péter Szabó - Radim Hédl. 1st ed. Praha: Botanický ústav AV ČR, 2008, 143 s. ISBN 9788086188287. info
  • DIAMOND, Jared M. Kolaps : proč společnosti zanikají a přežívají. Translated by Zdeněk Urban. Vyd. 1. Praha: Academia, 2008, 751 s. ISBN 9788020015891. info
  • SÁDLO, Jiří, Petr POKORNÝ, Pavel HÁJEK, Dagmar DRESLEROVÁ and Václav CÍLEK. Krajina a revoluce : významné přelomy ve vývoji kulturní krajiny českých zemí. Vyd. 1. Praha: Malá Skála, 2005, 247 stran. ISBN 8086776026. info
Teaching methods
Lecture, discussion, compulsory reading
Assessment methods
Participation in the lectures is expected. Active participation in the discussion classes is compulsory. To successfully complete the course, students must complete two assignments: 1. Present one scholarly article in class discussion. OR Summarize a scientific problem in environmental history based on 3-4 articles in written form 2. Essay: Select and describe one specific source in environmental history. Identify and describe potential research directions based on this source, including relevant scholarly literature.
Language of instruction
Czech
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2020, Autumn 2021, Autumn 2022, Autumn 2024.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2023, recent)
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