FYSP 067 - The Climate of History: From Asia to the Anthropocene
FCSSCIWINT4 credits Have historians contributed to our cultural inability to contemplate climate changeby portraying humans as autonomous from nature? What role do the humanitieshave now that humans have become a major geophysical force, and what mustchange about how we narrate our story? This first-year seminar will invite studentsto contemplate these questions with a particular focus on the environmental historiesof Asia. Students will engage cutting-edge scholarship on topics from ancient anthropogenic landscapes of the Yellow River Valley to plastic in modern dayBeijing, and work to re-imagine the role of the humanities in the ageof climatechange through intensive writing and discussion. Off-campus field trips required.
