Course Description
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Course Name
Environment and Empire
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Host University
Queen Mary, University of London
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Location
London, England
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Area of Study
Environmental Studies, European Studies, Geography, History
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Language Level
Taught In English
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Course Level Recommendations
Upper
ISA offers course level recommendations in an effort to facilitate the determination of course levels by credential evaluators.We advice each institution to have their own credentials evaluator make the final decision regrading course levels.
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UK Credits
15 -
Recommended U.S. Semester Credits4
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Recommended U.S. Quarter Units6
Hours & Credits
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Overview
Course description:
This module examines how environmental challenges have been, and continue to be, shaped by empire. These impacts affect how Earth's history, the biosphere, and the climate are known, and extend to both extractive technologies and financial relationships that enable extraction. But the effects of empire run deeper, to the very way the environment is understood. Using London as a launchpad for field trips and firsthand encounters, this module challenges students to rethink how ideas of the planet’s past, present, and future are shaped by empire.
This module aims to:
1) Examine how empire has shaped, and continues to shape, environmental knowledge
2) Explore sites and spaces of empire, such as where the material markers of scientific knowledge persist in advancing ways of knowing and relating to the environment today
3) Understand how contemporary modes of extraction maintain links to the legacies of empire, such as in and through financial activities
4) Provide students with concrete analytical skills for situating contemporary challenges in historical context
5) Encourage students to engage critically and thoughtfully with how environmental thought, and baselines for assessing environmental impacts, have been influenced by the data collected through empire