Global Environments

• • • Climate change.
  • • Environmental justice.
  • • Nature and culture.
  • • Representation and power.
  • • Anthropocene.
  • • Decolonisation.

No eligibility requirements

Additional requirements

No additional requirements

This subject introduces you to key ideas within the Environmental Humanities and their importance in helping us understand and address the crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. The subject begins with the Anthropocene – the era in which humans have become a geological force. We look at the relationships between nature and culture and their representation through processes that embed understandings of power and control, and learn the importance of the humanities in addressing issues of social and environmental justice. We then apply these ideas to four different case studies that focus on the themes of earth, wind, water and fire. We will consider the extraction of resources and people in Central and South America, including the Amazon, and look at the power of the monsoon in Asia: what does it mean for the region and the planet that half the world's population depends on the rains these winds bring? We will study the rising seas of the Pacific and the region's history of colonisation and decolonisation. Finally, we will look at Australian Aboriginal use of fire in land management, and consider the legacies of the Black Saturday and Black Summer fires the entanglement between humans and nature in those conflagrations. Throughout the subject we consider different forms of knowledge in order to identify ways to address the crises of climate change and biodiversity loss. 

• Group Case Study, 1200 words A case study presented as a group assessment in a poster and/or an oral presentation. (35%)
• Critical Appraisal, 800 words A short critical appraisal of a visual and textual source. (25%)
• Research Essay, 2500 words (40%)

For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).