HIST 2311A: Canadian Environmental History
Winter 2022
Instructor: Professor Joanna Dean
This course will provide students with the historical context for contemporary environmental issues in Canada.
We will examine five interconnected themes:
1) Conservation: national parks, forest reserves and wildlife refuges.
2) High modernism: dams, industrial farming, mines, industrial fishing and biotechnology.
3) Urban ecologies: the entanglement of trees, rivers, and animals in the built urban environment.
4) Activism: science, counter culture and media in Greenpeace and Pollution Probe
5) Fossil fuels, appropriate technology and climate change.
Students will be introduced to a variety of primary sources, including photographs, material artifacts, and letters. They will learn strategies for critical analysis of both scholarly and popular articles.