Research Seminar (395-0-26)

Topic

Climate and Culture

Instructors

Juan Fernando León Báez

Meeting Info

Technological Institute M166: Mon, Wed 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

Climate and Culture

This research seminar examines climate history from the Middle Ages to the Modern Period. Through historical and environmental approaches, it considers Earth's climate as both a cultural construction and a physical phenomenon. As a concept crafted by humans to make sense of and stabilize their relationship with the weather, climate has profoundly shaped societal imaginations and practices. Students will explore how past societies envisioned the sky and developed diverse ways of interacting with it, investigating why some climate ideas gained global traction while others remained geographically and culturally confined. Topics will include Western theories of climate and health; Indigenous approaches to sustaining and restoring atmospheric balance; the ecological impact of empires and extractive economies; the role of religion, technology, and scientific inquiry in shaping climatic understandings; and the polarized discourses of human-driven climate change. By situating climate within specific cultures and ecologies, such as the Indian Ocean, the Eurasian steppe, the African Sahel, the Andes, wetlands, and glaciers, this course offers a nuanced and global perspective on humanity's enduring interaction with the natural world and its long-standing efforts to control it.

Learning Objectives

Students will develop a multifaceted perspective of the Earth's climate, its environmental foundations, cultural origins, change over time, scientific codifications, and societal debates. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the role of scientific evidence, historical inquiry, and technological evolution in comprehending past climate shifts. Students will learn how to frame research questions, locate, interpret, and incorporate relevant primary and secondary sources, and compose an independent position on a chosen topic by writing a 12-15 pp. (roughly 3,500 words) research paper that contributes meaningfully to historical and climatological understanding.

Evaluation Method

40% In-class Participation
5% Research Prospectus
10% Mini Position Paper
15% First Draft
30% Final Research Paper

Class Notes

History Major Concentration(s): European, Global
History Minor Concentration(s): Europe, Environment

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Historical Studies Foundational Discipline
Historical Studies Distro Area

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: Registration is restricted to History Majors and Minors only until the end of pre-registration, after which time enrollment will be open to everyone who has taken the prerequisites (if any) Freshmen may not register for this course.