History 524

AMERICAN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY

University of Idaho

Spring 2004

Tuesday and Thursday @ 12:30 – 1:45

Education 401

Dr. Adam M. Sowards

Office: Administration 315

Phone: 885-7704

E-Mail: asowards@uidaho.edu

Web: http://www.class.uidaho.edu/asowards/ (This website is in the process of being developed.)

Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday, 11:00 – 12:00 (Immediately before and after class is usually also a good time to have some questions answered.)

Note to Students: It is my pleasure to do what I can to help you meet your goals in this class. If you find yourself having trouble, please send me e-mail, use my office hours, or set up an appointment to see me.

Course Description

This course will examine Americans’ interactions with the natural environment using the analytical lens of history. It will also investigate history using the analytical lens of the natural environment. It will focus on how nature shapes what humans do and how nature is shaped by what humans do over the last five hundred years. In addition, the course will explore Americans’ ideas and attitudes toward the natural world and the political struggles related to the environment. In the process of the course, we will learn much about the American past, and we will hone our skills of critical thinking. Thus, this class will teach content (i.e., American environmental history) and skills (i.e., the ability to analyze, think, and communicate critically).

As a graduate-level course, we will engage in additional reading, extra discussion sessions (perhaps every other week or every third week), and longer and sometimes different papers.

Required Books

The following list constitutes the required books for this course. They are available for purchase at the University of Idaho Bookstore. It is possible, even likely, that you could find some of the books cheaper through online booksellers.

Undergraduate Books

· Ted Steinberg, Down to Earth: Nature’s Role in American History

· Louis S. Warren, ed., American Environmental History

· Carolyn Merchant, Ecological Revolutions: Nature, Gender, and Science in New England

· Andrew C. Isenberg, The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920

· Richard White, The Organic Machine: The Remaking of the Columbia River

· Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside: Suburban Sprawl and the Rise of American Environmentalism

Additional Books for Graduate Students

· Mart A. Stewart, “What Nature Suffers to Groe”: Life, Labor, and Landscape on the Georgia Coast, 1680-1920

· William Cronon, Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West

· Kathryn Morse, The Nature of Gold: An Environmental History of the Klondike Gold Rush

· Robert Gottlieb, Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement

· Mark W. T. Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness: Echo Park and the American Conservation Movement

· Mark Fiege, Irrigated Eden: The Making of an Agricultural Landscape in the American West

· Nancy Langston, Forest Dreams, Forest Nightmares: The Paradox of Old Growth in the Inland West (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1995). ISBN 0-295-97550-4

· Virginia J. Scharff, ed., Seeing Nature through Gender

Assignments and Grading

Colonial America Paper: You will write a short paper interpreting the environmental component of transatlantic contact and the development of colonial America. This first paper is designed to provide early feedback on your writing and your understanding of environmental history. It will help prepare you for your larger papers. The precise question you will be answering and the requirements will be provided later. Besides the books used by undergraduates, you will consult “What Nature Suffers to Groe” and, possibly, Seeing Nature through Gender.

Incorporation Paper: You will write a paper interpreting the environmental aspects of the incorporation of America into a national political economy based largely on market capitalism and democratic principles, which occurred largely in the nineteenth century. The precise question you will be answering and the requirements will be provided later. Besides the books used by undergraduates, you will consult Nature’s Metropolis, The Nature of Gold, and, possibly, Seeing Nature through Gender and “What Nature Suffers to Groe.”

Urbanization and Environmentalism Paper: You will write a paper analyzing the relationship between the rise of the environmental movement, urbanization, and changing technologies throughout the twentieth century. Besides the books used by undergraduates, you will consult Forcing the Spring, A Symbol of Wilderness, and Seeing Nature through Gender.

Nature, Work, and Knowledge: You will write a paper interpreting the interaction of the environment, human labor, and perception. The precise question you will be answering and the requirements will be provided later. Besides The Organic Machine, you will consult Irrigated Eden, Forest Dreams, Forest Nightmares, and, possibly, Seeing Nature through Gender.

10-Minute Essays: You will not be required to take these 10-minute essays, however, you may choose to do them and I will grade them for feedback.

Short Profiles: You will not be required to do these short profiles.

Participation: You will be expected to contribute to classroom and graduate group discussions, but this will not contribute to your grade as it will for undergraduates.

Policies

Late Work Policy: Your grade drops one full grade for each day your work is late. You must be in class the day it is due to turn in work. If you do not come to class, your work will be counted as one day late unless you have made prior arrangements. With legitimate, documented excuses or for absences arranged ahead of time, exceptions can be made.

Grade Challenges: I am willing to entertain grade challenges provided they are submitted in writing and that you wait 48 hours after the assignment is returned before you hand in your objection. You will then need to set up an appointment with me to discuss the assignment and grade. Also, you must initiate this process within one week of the time the assignment was returned to the class. After re-evaluating a grade and meeting with you to discuss the assignment and evaluation, I may change it.

Plagiarism: To plagiarize is to present someone else’s work as your own. To present someone else’s work as your own means to use someone else’s information, ideas or writing without explicitly acknowledging with quotation marks and/or citations that the ideas and writing are not your own. You may be plagiarizing even if you are not directly quoting. Plagiarism is a serious offense and I will give a 0 to the first assignment in which a student plagiarizes. If a student plagiarizes again, I will fail that student in the course. If you have ANY questions or confusions about plagiarism, please let me know before you turn in your work. It is essential to be using others’ ideas and information; however, you just must provide credit where credit is due. You may find additional information about Academic Honesty (and dishonesty) as part of the Student Code of Conduct.

Accommodations: Reasonable accommodations are available for students who have a documented disability. Please notify the instructor during the first week of class of an accommodation(s) needed for the course. Late notification may mean that requested accommodations might not be available. All accommodations must be approved through Disability Support Services located in the Idaho Commons Building, Rm. 333, 885-7200, or dss@uidaho.edu.

Expectations

Students will:

	attend all classes.
	finish assigned readings and work on time and be prepared to answer questions and discuss reading content.
	spend time contemplating the basic issues discussed in class and in the reading.
	treat peers and professor with respect.
	engage in appropriate academic classroom behavior (e.g., arrive on time prepared to take notes, do not engage in social conversations or other disruptive acts, keep wireless phones off).
	do not engage in "social loafing" during group assignments.
	take independent steps to solve any confusion due to missed class (or other reasons) by using appropriate methods.
	devote ample time to the course content despite work, social and other class obligations.
	do not cheat or be prepared to accept the consequences which will result in 0 points for the assignment. (Further discipline may be appropriate.)

The instructor will:

	arrive in class on time and be prepared to make effective use of the students' time.
	treat students and their opinions with respect.
	be available to students during office hours and at other times arranged by mutual agreement.
	make every reasonable effort to assist students in attaining their academic goals.
	assess student performance in as objective and accurate manner as is possible and as quickly as possible.
	keep abreast of current events as they pertain to the course.
	continue to research and study American environmental history.
	challenge students to learn as much as possible.

Reading and Assignment Schedule

Please note that this is an approximation of what we will be doing and changes may be necessary. If so, they will be announced to the class. Also, the reading assignments are to be complete before you come to class on the day they are assigned.

The additional graduate readings are listed below the others and only once a week. They are meant as guidelines, since you will not be discussing them in class, just in our graduate group.

Thursday, January 15: First Day of Class, No Assigned Reading

Tuesday, January 20: Introduction to Environmental History: Ted Steinberg, Down to Earth, ix-xii, 3-7; Louis S. Warren, ed., American Environmental History, 1-3; Carolyn Merchant, Ecological Revolutions, xiii-xv, 1-26.

Thursday, January 22: Aboriginal Environmental History: Steinberg, 11-20; Warren, 4-48.

Graduate: Virginia Scharff, ed., Seeing Nature through Gender, xiii-xxii; 3-19.

Tuesday, January 27: Contact and Consequences I: Steinberg, 21-38; Warren, 49-72; Merchant, 29-68.

Thursday, January 29: Contact and Consequences II: Merchant, 69-111.

Graduate: Mart A. Stewart, “What Nature Suffers to Groe”, 1-86; Scharff, 20-39.

Tuesday, February 3: Making the Colonial Landscape I: Steinberg, 39-51; Warren, 73-100.

Thursday, February 5: Making the Colonial Landscape II: Merchant, 112-145.

Graduate: Stewart, 87-150.

Tuesday, February 10: Colonial Paper Due: Rationalizing Resources: Steinberg, 55-70.

Thursday, February 12: Commodifying Forests: Warren, 101-124; Merchant, 149-197.

Graduate: Stewart, 151-192.

Tuesday, February 17: Transforming the South: Steinberg, 71-88; Warren, 124-140.

Thursday, February 19: Urbanization and Disease: Warren, 141-159.

Graduate: William Cronon, Nature’s Metropolis, xv-xxv, 5-93.

Tuesday, February 24: Early Mechanization and Industrialization: Merchant, 198-270.

Thursday, February 26: War and the Continued Transformation of the South: Steinberg, 89-115.

Graduate: Stewart, 193-252; Cronon, 97-259.

Tuesday, March 2: The Far West: Steinberg, 116-137; Richard White, The Organic Machine, ix-xi, 3-29; Andrew C. Isenberg, The Destruction of the Bison, 1-62.

Thursday, March 4: Incorporating the Plains: Warren, 160-179; Isenberg, 63-122.

Graduate: Cronon, 263-385; Scharff, 63-79.

Tuesday, March 9: Domestication and Conservation: Isenberg, 123-198.

Thursday, March 11: Incorporation Paper Due for Undergraduates

Graduate: Kathryn, Morse, The Nature of Gold, all; Scharff, 169-193.

Tuesday, March 16: Spring Recess, No Classes

Thursday, March 18: Spring Recess, No Classes

Tuesday, March 23: Conservation: Resource Management and Class: Steinberg, 138-156; Warren, 180-211.

Thursday, March 25: Conservation: Cities and Wilderness: Steinberg, 157-172, Warren, 212-243.

Graduate: Robert Gottlieb, Forcing the Spring, ??; Scharff, 40-59, 80-102. Nancy Langston, Forest Dreams, Forest Nightmares, vii-ix, 3-113. Incorporation Paper Due for Graduate Students.

Tuesday, March 30: Food: Steinberg, 175-205

Thursday, April 1: Power: White, 30-88.

Graduate: Gottlieb, ??, Langston, 114-200; Mark Fiege, Irrigated Eden, ix-xi, 3-142

Tuesday, April 13: Suburbs, Automobiles, and Emerging Modern America: Steinberg, 206- 225; Adam Rome, The Bulldozer in the Countryside, xi-xiii, 1-86.

Thursday, April 15: Waste, Pollution, and Its Challengers: Steinberg, 226-238; Warren, 244-270; Rome, 87-118.

Graduate: Langston, 201-306; Fiege, 143-209; Scharff, 103-166.

Tuesday, April 20: Emerging Movements: Steinberg, 239-261; Rome, 119-188.

Thursday, April 22: Federal Conservation: Warren, 271-297; Rome, 189-219.

Graduate: Mark W. T. Harvey, A Symbol of Wilderness; all; Scharff, 194-241. Nature, Work, and Knowledge Paper Due.

Tuesday, April 27: Land Use and Environmental Racism: Warren, 298-323; Rome, 221-270.

Thursday, April 29: Northwest Salmon and Technology, White, 89-113.

Graduate: Scharff, 282-319.

Tuesday, May 4: Backlash: Warren, 324-335.

Thursday, May 6: Assessments, Prospects, and the World: Steinberg, 262-285; Warren, 336-346

Graduate: Scharff, 242-281.

Final Exam Scheduled, Tuesday, May 11, 1 – 3

Final Paper (i.e., Urbanization and Environmentalism) due at this time.