Enrolments for 2023 have closed.
Sustainability, Resilience, and Collapse: From Past Societies to the End of Civilisation
Undergraduate | LTU-ARC2SRC | 2023
Course information for 2023 intake View information for 2024 course intake
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 12 weeks
HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Sustainability, Resilience, and Collapse: From Past Societies to the End of Civilisation
About this subject
- Identify how new scientific techniques can challenge deep-seated narratives around key events in past societal-transformations.
- Evaluate alternative models and theories of societal collapse - recognising how such understandings are constantly re-framed by new theoretical perspectives, new evidence, and/or new analytical techniques.
- Demonstrate an understanding of the difference between sustainability and resilience, using archaeological and/or historical examples of both.
- Apply novel analytical perspectives to archaeological and historical data in order to generate new understandings of societal adaptation to changing environmental conditions.
- Recognise and describe the limitations of archaeological and historical data in the study of changing societal interactions during times of crisis and change.
- • Climate change.
- • Sustainability and resilience of human societies.
- • Archaeology.
- • Collapse of civilisation.
- • Societal complexity.
Issues of sustainability and resilience are prominent today in light of accelerating climate deterioration, rising populations, and declining resources. But these issues are not new, and numerous past societies have faced these crises before. In this subject you will learn about a series of past societies that innovated and adapted successfully to often challenging environments - resulting in sustainable and/or resilient societies that thrived for centuries. And, you will also learn about societies that failed to adapt, or failed to innovate, resulting in the collapse of their society, the abandonment of their settlements, and maybe even the end of their culture?
This subject explores the success or failure of past and future societies within their respective social environmental systems - including how those systems were impacted by climate change in the past, and how future climate deterioration might impact our own society, or even bring about its end.
- Online quizzes (800 word equivalent) Students will complete 10 quizzes on the LMS linked to that week's lecture and tutorial content. (20%)
- Essay critique (1000 word equivalent) (30%)
- Build-Your-Own Analytical Piece (2000 words equivalent).In this assignment students will be asked to design and complete their own assessment by;1 - Selecting an analytical prompt or question from a short-list of topics;2 - Sele (50%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
The third university established in Victoria, La Trobe University has a diverse community of more than 38,000 students and staff. Its commitment to excellence in teaching and research prepares students to make a bold and positive impact in today's global community. La Trobe provides Open Universities Australia with its core tenets, entrepreneurship and sustainability.
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- QS Ranking 2024:
- 17
- Times Higher Education Ranking 2024:
- 18
Entry requirements
Others
Past La Trobe University students who have previously completed ARC3SRC (Sustainability, Resilience & Collapse: How Complex Societies Transform) are ineligible to enrol in this subject.
Pre-requisites: Students must have completed 60 credit points.
Additional requirements
No additional requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
UndergraduateLAT-BUS-DEG
UndergraduateLAT-TEC-DEG
UndergraduateLAT-ART-DEG
UndergraduateLAT-PYS-DEG
UndergraduateLAT-CYS-DEG
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