AK1204 Environmental History 7.5 credits
Environmental History
Please note
The information on this page is based on a course plan that is not yet valid.
The 2006 tsunami, New Orleans, Burma, Haiti. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tidal waves, pandemies. Is our world becoming a more dangerous place to live in? Why does there seem to be a growing interest in risks, crises and catastrophes? Because of the global warming? Because of food shortage? Because of threatening oil shortage and risk for growing conflicts over resources?
Many questions. One way to deal with them is to explore them historically. Did there use to be as many catastrophes in the past? What is humanity responsible for, and what is the effect of natural forces?
The public attention directed on risks and threats reflects that the importance of environmental issues has increased. In this course, we will among others learn to understand how environment and global survival became a political question during the second half of the 20th century. At the same time, the environment also became a scientific and technological challenge (what should the new solutions be like?) and an economic issue of growth and “green” competitiveness.
This course addresses questions in environmental history, but also emphasizes issues about landscape, risk and infrastructure, and addresses the technology and politics that set the frame for how people build and shape the environment. The geographical range is global, but uses many examples from Sweden.
A fundamental idea in this course is that what we call “environment” is a historical concept whose meaning and significance vary. In the present times, the environment has received much social attention. Environment is discussed in the media and in politics; it is the object of investigations in a large range of scientific fields. This is a new situation – the long-term effects of which are unknown. On the other hand, this does not imply that the natural environment was not meaningful in earlier societies. But there was no “discourse” on environment, which was understood and interpreted through religion, myths, ethics and art. Qualified knowledge about external natural conditions existed.
The emphasis of this course is placed on modern times and on the attempts to influence the environment by means of politics, science and technology, but the course also orientates the reader in older periods, cultures and societies.
Educational level
First cycleAcademic level (A-D)
BSubject area
Techonology
Grade scale
A, B, C, D, E, FX, F
Course offerings
Spring 14 for programme students
Periods
Spring 14 P4 (7.5 credits)
Application code
60906
Start date
2014 week: 13
End date
2014 week: 23
Language of instruction
English
Campus
KTH Campus
Number of lectures
25 (preliminary)
Number of exercises
Tutoring time
Daytime
Form of study
Normal
Number of places *
6 - 40
*) The Course date may be cancelled if number of admitted are less than minimum of places. If there are more applicants than number of places selection will be made.
Course responsible
Sverker Sörlin <sverker.sorlin@abe.kth.se>
Teacher
Susanna Lidström <suslid@kth.se>
Sverker Sörlin <sverker.sorlin@abe.kth.se>
Target group
The course can be taken by KTH Program Students in any area of study and requires no previous courses. It is intended primarily for those who study at the candidate level, but it could meaningfully be taken also by masters students and by doctoral students who wish to widen their competencies with environmental history.
Spring 14 for single courses students - To application
Periods
Spring 14 P4 (7.5 credits)
Application code
20008
Start date
24/03/2014
End date
2014 week: 23
Language of instruction
English
Campus
KTH Campus
Number of lectures
Number of exercises
Tutoring time
Daytime
Form of study
Normal
Number of places *
1 - 6
*) The Course date may be cancelled if number of admitted are less than minimum of places. If there are more applicants than number of places selection will be made.
Course responsible
Sverker Sörlin <sverker.sorlin@abe.kth.se>
Teacher
Susanna Lidström <suslid@kth.se>
Sverker Sörlin <sverker.sorlin@abe.kth.se>
Target group
The course can be taken by KTH Program Students in any area of study and requires no previous courses. It is intended primarily for those who study at the candidate level, but it could meaningfully be taken also by masters students and by doctoral students who wish to widen their competencies with environmental history.
Application
Apply for this course at antagning.se through this application link.
Please note that you need to log in at antagning.se to finalize your application.
Spring 13 for programme students
Periods
Spring 13 P4 (7.5 credits)
Application code
61033
Start date
18/03/2013
End date
2013 week: 21
Language of instruction
English
Campus
KTH Campus
Number of lectures
27 (preliminary)
Number of exercises
Tutoring time
Daytime
Form of study
Normal
Number of places *
6 - 40
*) The Course date may be cancelled if number of admitted are less than minimum of places. If there are more applicants than number of places selection will be made.
Course responsible
Sverker Sörlin <sverker.sorlin@abe.kth.se>
Teacher
Susanna Lidström <suslid@kth.se>
Sverker Sörlin <sverker.sorlin@abe.kth.se>
Target group
The course can be taken by KTH Program Students in any area of study and requires no previous courses. It is intended primarily for those who study at the candidate level, but it could meaningfully be taken also by masters students and by doctoral students who wish to widen their competencies with environmental history.
Learning outcomes
After the course the student shall:
- have knowledge about the environment as a limiting factor in human societies from the oldest times to the present modern society,
- be able to describe and explain how and why the environment has become a political, economical and technological issue in modern society,
- be able to analyse the growing interest in risks, catastrophies and understand those phenomena in a historical context.
Course main content
The course is a general introduction to environmental history but also covers themes such as landscape, risk, and infrastructure as well as technologies and policies that have provided the framework conditions for human ecological footprints and the built environment. The perspective is global but with numerous examples from Sweden. The chronological focus will be on the modern period, in particular the 20th century.
Disposition
The course consists of 8 lectures and about as many seminars. At seminars students will discuss texts with an instructor in a group format. Each student will also introduce a text at a seminar and at the end of the course write an essay of approximately 2000 words.
Eligibility
Applicants registered on a regular KTH programme are eligible.
Completed upper secondary education including documented proficiency in Swedish corresponding to Swedish B/ Swedish 3 and English corresponding to English A/ English 6.
Prerequisites
No recommended prerequisites.
Literature
- John R. McNeill, Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World. W.W. Norton New York and London, 2000, urval.
- Joachim Radkau, Nature and Power: A Global History of the Environment, Cambridge University Press, 2008, urval.
- Sverker Sörlin and Paul Warde eds., Nature’s End, Palgrave MacMillan, in press.
- Artiklar och seminarietexter tillkommer.
Totalt antal sidor ca 1000.
Examination
- INL1 - Essay, 7.5 credits, grade scale: A, B, C, D, E, FX, F
Active participation in seminars and lectures; at one seminar in advance prepare a comment or a review; write an essay (about 2000 words) about one of the central themes of the course that clearly draws on the course literature, lectures, and seminars.
Mandatory attendance to pass the course. Absence on more than 25% of lectures or on more than one seminar is made up for by additional writing assignment.
Requirements for final grade
Assessment criteria for the course are:
- Quality of essay (50%)
- Quality of oral and written seminar presentation (20%)
- Quality of overall activity in lectures and seminars. (30%)
Results on all three dimensions make up one single grade for the entire course.
Mandatory attendance to pass the course. Absence on more than 25% of lectures or on more than one seminar is made up for by additional writing assignment.
The assessment criteria of essay are:
- Coverage of reading assignments to demonstrate full grasp of all literature, which should be listed as end references
- Ability to present the topic and argue for its relevance and overall interest
- Ability to follow a line of argument and to organize materials to support the argument
- Analytical capability
- Clarity of style and ability to distinguish the voices and views in sources from author’s argument and presentation
Offered by
ABE/History of Science and Technology
Contact
Professor Sverker Sörlin, sorlin@kth.se
Examiner
Arne Kaijser <arnek@kth.se>
Supplementary information
The course may be cancelled if less than 10 students accept the offer of a place.
The course is taught in period 4 (second half of the spring term).
Mandatory attendance to pass the course. Absence on more than 25% of lectures or on more than one seminar is made up for by additional writing assignment.
Previous course code: 4D1212
Add-on studies
For advanced studies within this field after completing this course, you may apply for a masters thesis project in History of Science and Technology (Examensarbete inom teknikhistoria, AK221X).
Version
Course plan valid from:
Spring 14.
Examination information valid from:
Spring 09.