Course Description
01:512:329 Technology and Nature in American History
- Academic Credits: 3
- SAS Core: WCR, WCD
- Mode of Instruction: Lecture
Syllabus: Fall 2023
Syllabus Disclaimer: The information on this draft syllabus is subject to change. For up-to-date course information, please refer to the syllabus on your course site (Sakai, Canvas, etc.) on the first day of class.
Course Description
From colonial America to the twenty-first century, we will consider how the visual and material world of “nature” has been reshaped by industrial practices, ideologies, and institutions, with a particular emphasis on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We will combine readings from environmental history and the history of technology to explore a variety of landscapes—from farms to suburbs, from Walden Pond to Yosemite National Park—to uncover not only the ways that technologies have shaped the landscapes around us, but also the ways that the natural world has resisted and redirected technological change.
