Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

Course Outlines

Fall 2020 - HIST 377 D100

Environmental History (4)

Class Number: 3403

Delivery Method: Remote

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 9 – Dec 8, 2020: Tue, 8:30–11:20 a.m.
    Burnaby

  • Exam Times + Location:

    Dec 19, 2020
    Sat, 7:00–10:00 p.m.
    Burnaby

  • Prerequisites:

    45 units, including six units of lower division history.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Examines the reciprocal influences between humans and nature through time. Topics may include settlement, agriculture, technology, politics, urbanization, science, and conservation. Students with credit for GEOG 377 may not take this course for further credit.

COURSE DETAILS:

2020 Alert: Almost all teaching in Fall 2020 will be conducted through remote methods. Enrollment in this course acknowledges that remote study may entail different modes of learning, interaction with your instructor, and ways of getting feedback on your work than may be the case for in-person classes.

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they need class or exam accommodations, including in the current context of remote learning, should register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112) as soon as possible to ensure that they are eligible and that approved accommodations and services are implemented in a timely fashion.  

Lectures will be delivered asynchronously for viewing on your own time before each week's synchronous general discussion during the nromally scheduled lecture time.

Overview: This course studies the reciprocal influence of humans and nature in North America from contact to the present, and it places those tales in conversation with other parts of the globe. It explores how pathogens, evolution, settlement, and technology shaped life, and on how ideas about nature shaped peoples and places over the last 400 years. As an upper-division course, GEOG 377 contributes to student comprehension of the social, cultural, and ecological factors shaping human events across time.  

Topics: class, colonialism, culture, markets, urbanization, technology, energy, and consumption

Grading

  • Midterm 30%
  • Paper 30%
  • Quizzes 10%
  • Final 30%

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

Mark Spence, Dispossessing the Wilderness: Indian Removal and the Making of National Parks (1999)

Thomas R. H. Havens, Parkscapes: Green Spaces in Modern Japan (2011)

Thomas M. Lekan, Our Gigantic Zoo: A German Quest to Save the Serengeti (2020)

Elizabeth Hennessey, On the Backs of Tortoises: Darwin, the Galapagos, and an Evolutionary Eden (2019)

Primary docs available online via urls, SFU’s Electronic Journals, and Canvas

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

SFU’s Academic Integrity web site http://www.sfu.ca/students/academicintegrity.html is filled with information on what is meant by academic dishonesty, where you can find resources to help with your studies and the consequences of cheating.  Check out the site for more information and videos that help explain the issues in plain English.

Each student is responsible for his or her conduct as it affects the University community.  Academic dishonesty, in whatever form, is ultimately destructive of the values of the University. Furthermore, it is unfair and discouraging to the majority of students who pursue their studies honestly. Scholarly integrity is required of all members of the University. http://www.sfu.ca/policies/gazette/student/s10-01.html

TEACHING AT SFU IN FALL 2020

Teaching at SFU in fall 2020 will be conducted primarily through remote methods. There will be in-person course components in a few exceptional cases where this is fundamental to the educational goals of the course. Such course components will be clearly identified at registration, as will course components that will be “live” (synchronous) vs. at your own pace (asynchronous). Enrollment acknowledges that remote study may entail different modes of learning, interaction with your instructor, and ways of getting feedback on your work than may be the case for in-person classes. To ensure you can access all course materials, we recommend you have access to a computer with a microphone and camera, and the internet. In some cases your instructor may use Zoom or other means requiring a camera and microphone to invigilate exams. If proctoring software will be used, this will be confirmed in the first week of class.

Students with hidden or visible disabilities who believe they may need class or exam accommodations, including in the current context of remote learning, are encouraged to register with the SFU Centre for Accessible Learning (caladmin@sfu.ca or 778-782-3112).