JK35001 Introduction-Focus I Seminar (SEG) B
| Numbering Code | Year/Term | 2022 ・ First semester | ||
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| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | special lecture | |
| Target Year | Target Student | |||
| Language | English | Day/Period | Thu.3 | |
| Instructor name | ERICSON, Kjell David (Graduate School of Letters Program-Specific Senior Lecturer) | |||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course |
When we conjure up "the environment" in our mind’s eye, what do we see? Perhaps we envision mountains, trees, streams, and waves--scenes where humans don’t appear or make only transient visits. Some of us could think about holistic linkages among all living creatures and their surroundings. Others among us may imagine how human societies have exploited and polluted relationships to non-human spaces. We might also "see" worldwide phenomena that are less obviously visible from a single vantage point, most notably climate change. This course invites us to reflect upon the multiplicity of environments and environmental thinking around the world, at a moment defined by global-scale environmental crises and human impacts. Some questions are: How have ways of understanding the environment, sustainability, and nature emerged, interacted, and changed? Can we study the world through approaches that go beyond human perspectives alone? |
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| Course Goals |
・The course will introduce you to the multi-stranded field of environmental history, which is animated by desires both to understand the past on its own terms and to bring the past to bear on present-day problems. ・The course will press us to think about how environmental ideas structure people’s everyday lives and inform their political priorities. We will consider these issues by looking closely at recent English-language research related to the Japanese archipelago and its environs. We will explore how concepts of nature, human artifice, resources, pollution, science, conservation, war, and food have functioned in Japan. By the same token, we will survey "more-than-human" approaches to understanding environments. We are lucky in this course to have a rich space in which to pursue these possibilities on the ground: Kyoto and its surroundings. ・By the end of the course, you will be prepared to conduct research related to environmental history from new points of view. |
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| Schedule and Contents |
Week 1. Introduction I. Approaches to Environmental History Week 2. The Trouble with Wilderness Week 3. Envirotech Week 4. Climate History II. Narrating Environmental Transformation Week 5. Visualizing and Managing Land and Sea Week 6. Changes in the Land Week 7. Nature and Empire Week 8. War Week 9. The Archives of Environmental History III. Environmentalisms Week 10. Knowing Harm Week 11. Conceptual Interlude 1 Week 12. Disaster Week 13. Conceptual Interlude 2 Week 14. Environmentalisms Week 15. Presentations and Feedback (Please note that the precise topics and order are both subject to change.) |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy |
Attendance, participation, and presentations in class (25%) Short weekly reading responses (25%) Final paper (50%) To JDTS/MATS students: This is course can be taken as either reduced (4 ECTS) or full seminar (8 ECTS). Please indicate your ECTS requirement to the teacher. |
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| Course Requirements | None | |||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) |
・Students are required to read through assigned readings and prepared for the discussions and presentations each week. ・Students are expected to actively participate in preparations for the final project. |
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| Textbooks | Textbooks/References | At least one copy of the books should be available in the library and through the university's online subscriptions, although in some cases (particularly during the weeks where you are responsible for presenting) it may be advisable to purchase a new or used copy for yourself. | ||
