HIST1919W: Environmental Justice and Inequality

This course introduces students to the key concepts of Environmental Justice/Injustice and social movements while showing the historical roots of inequality and socio-economic divergence in the United States and the global south. The course will examine uneven distribution of environmental problems across diverse geographies and communities and examine short- and long-term consequences of these problems on marginalized communities while demonstrating how these environmental problems shaped the aspects of contemporary inequalities across the globe. Hist 1919W has been designed thematically, while the first couple of weeks will focus on environmental Justice/Injustice as a concept. In this regard, environmental justice in air, water, land, housing, health, gender, transportation, and occupation are some of the main themes that will be covered. Furthermore, since Environmental Justice has emerged as a field in the United States thanks to the struggle of marginalized communities and indigenous people who fought against the extrapolation of natural resources, contamination of indigenous lands, environmental racism, and racial segregation in urban spaces, the first half of weekly lectures and discussions will focus specifically on environmental injustice problems in the United States. The second half of lectures and weekly discussions will examine similar case studies in the global south. Students will have an opportunity to notice global trends in environmental Justice/Injustice while learning about diverse geographies, communal experiences, social movements, and transnational solidarities of marginalized communities. Thus, the course will enable students not only to understand the complex relationship between human societies, non-human species, market economy, and state as a political institution but also the changing nature and structure of this relationship in the contemporary world.

View on University Catalog