ENG4507 ¨C American Environmental History

Course content

Students in this course will study US environmental history in the modern era. Throughout, attention will be paid to how humans imagined, degraded, and preserved their environment. Emphasis will also be placed on how the natural world shaped and altered US history and human experience. The course will cover the period from the devastating Dust Bowl and conservationist efforts of the 1930s to the era of widespread environmental activism in the 1970s and 1980s. The focus will be on human interaction with the environment, weather and climate, conservation, and the modern environmental movement. Source materials will include selections from scholarly books, articles, and chapters as well as speeches, letters, newspaper reports, feature films, documentary films, popular music, literary fiction, and other relevant primary sources. Key cultural and historical interpretations will be emphasized through which students will engage with course themes and develop their critical reading, thinking, speaking, and writing skills.

Learning outcome

After completing this course, you:

• can consider/explore the relationality of nature, culture, and environment.

• can critically engage with historical theories and methodologies to investigate and analyze how humans have shaped and been shaped by their environment.

• will be able to apply knowledge and communicate informed opinions about American environmental history, employing historical claims and arguments, and analyzing and clearly presenting arguments.

• can demonstrate an awareness and interpretation of historical and contemporary relationships.

Admission to the course

Students who are admitted to study programmes at UiO must each semester register which courses and exams they wish to sign up for?in Studentweb.

If you are not already enrolled as a student at UiO, please see our information about?admission requirements and procedures.

Overlapping courses

• 10 credits overlap with ENG2507 ¨C American Environmental History.

Teaching

Seminars, 2 hours per week for 10 weeks. 20 hours in all.

You are expected to read all assignments and come ready to discuss these in the seminars.

Obligatory activities:

• Students have to pass two quizzes in Canvas

• The submission of a first draft of the term paper.??Read more here about rules concerning valid excuses and how to apply for postponements. Information about?guidelines for obligatory activities.

• It is obligatory to show up for a minimum of 60% of the teaching. In this course you have to attend 6 of 10 seminars. The requirement is absolute.

The allowed absence limit will cover all absences, including illness. You will not be granted valid absences with documentation, even when the absence is due to something beyond your control.

If the course has in-person teaching, and you are signed up for an in-person seminar group, you are to attend the teaching in the location found in the schedule.

If the course has digital teaching, and you are signed up for a digital seminar group, you must attend via Zoom with your camera on.

In certain circumstances, i.e. serious or chronic illness, you could apply for?special needs accomodations.

All obligatory activities must be approved in the same semester for you to sit the exam. Approved course requirements are only valid the semester you attend the course.

Examination

The grade will be based on a term paper of 11 standard pages (a standard page consists of 2,300 characters). This does not include references and bibliography.?

You will be assessed on your knowledge and understanding of American environmental history in this era, your ability to analyze and critically discuss historiographical theories, and your skills of interpreting primary source evidence. You will have the opportunity of receiving formative feedback on seminar discussions, debates, and tutorial sessions.

Language of examination

The examination text is given in English, and you submit your response in English.

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F is a fail. Read more about the grading system.

Resit an examination

For those who want to retake their exam: Since the form of assessment in this course is a term paper, you must follow the seminars and write a new paper in order to qualify. Admission depends on capacity.

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.