Fall 2008: This course traces the reciprocal influence of humans and nature in North America from contact to the present.  It will explore the impact of pathogens on human demography, settlement on the reshaping of the land, and technology on the scope and conduct of modern life.  Lectures will also trace North Americans’ evolving cultural understanding of and relationship to nature, charting the rise of conservationists, preservationist, and environmentalist thought.  As an upper-division geography course, GEOG/HIST 377 contributes to student comprehension of social, cultural, and environmental factors shaping human events across a broad reach of North America.

Topics:

Colonialism

Politics

Class

Culture

Markets

Urbanization

Technology

Required Texts:

Carney, Judith. Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation. Cambridge, Mass.  Harvard University Press, 2002.

Spence, Mark D Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of National Parks.  New York.  Oxford University Press, 1999.

Sandlos, John. Hunters at the Margins: Native Peoples and Wildlife Conservation in the Northwest Territories.  Vancouver. UBC Press, 2007.

Prerequisites:

60 credit hours including 8 hours of upper division Geography or History 

Course Evaluations:

Midterm        25%

Paper 30%

Final      25%

Participation            10%

Tutorial Papers (2)    5% EACH