Key Issues in Environmental History (HIS352)

This course gives students an introduction to key issues in environmental history as a field of research.


Course description for study year 2025-2026. Please note that changes may occur.

Facts

Course code

HIS352

Version

1

Credits (ECTS)

10

Semester tution start

Spring

Number of semesters

1

Exam semester

Spring

Language of instruction

English

Offered by
Time table

View course schedule

Content

Environmental historians study how humans have worked with, shaped, and thought about nature and environment - and how we have been shaped by this nature. The course will examine major developments and boundaries of this field. What are the central problems environmental historians examine? How has the field developed over time and what is the state of the field today?

Learning outcome

Knowledge

After completing the course, the student will be able to

  • demonstrate advanced knowledge about environmental history as a research field
  • demonstrate critical understanding about how interactions between people and their environments have shaped historical developments

Skills

After completing the course, the student will be able to

  • analyze environmental history publications for their structure, argumentation, empirical basis, and relationship to a historiographical context
  • critically reflect over different approaches to environmental history as a research field
  • apply historiographical perspectives independently in their own writing

General competence

After completing the course, the student will be able to

  • account for and critically reflect over different approaches to environmental history, and discuss whether they contribute anything new to our understanding of the past
  • actively participate in a seminar-based academic discussion

Required prerequisite knowledge

Same as admission requirements for Master’s program in History.

Exam

Book review and written home exam

Form of assessment Weight Duration Marks Aid
Book review 1/3 Letter grades All
Written home exam 2/3 Letter grades All

Written book review (1/3), 750 words (+/-10%), not including references, footnotes, bibliography, table of contents, appendices, etc.Written home exam, (2/3), 2500 words (+/-10%), not including references, footnotes, bibliography, table of contents, appendices, etc.Letter grade A-F. Book review counts 1/3 of final grade, written home exam counts 2/3.All aids are allowed.

Coursework requirements

Attendance, 3 Mandatory assignments

70% attendance in seminars.

Course teacher(s)

Course teacher:

Melina Antonia Buns

Course teacher:

Dolly Jørgensen

Course coordinator:

Finn Arne Jørgensen

Study Adviser:

Signe Ekenberg

Method of work

This is a seminar-based course that requires active student oral participation. Students will work together and individually. The seminars will be complemented by some lectures. Students are required to complete written and oral assignments throughout the course.

Open for

History and History Didactics - Master's Degree Programme
Exchange Students at Faculty of Arts and Education

Course assessment

There must be an early dialogue between the course supervisor, the student union representative and the students. The purpose is feedback from the students for changes and adjustments in the course for the current semester.In addition, a digital course evaluation must be carried out at least every three years. Its purpose is to gather the students experiences with the course.

Literature

Search for literature in Leganto