From Ashes to Fascists: The Roots and Rise of our Anti-Environmental Age (ENV4257.01)

John Hultgren

Responding to climate change and other contemporary environmental crises (biodiversity loss, looming water shortages, toxic pollution, etc.) necessitates swift and serious action that continues to be undercut by a rearguard anti-environmental movement. What are the ideological roots, the political economic forces, and the organizational forms through which anti-environmentalism has advanced? Grounded in the United States, but taking frequent forays abroad, this course will chart a history of the anti-environmental present. Areas of focus include, but are not limited to: environmentalist critiques of early modern/liberal thought; the history of extractive and chemical industry political activism in the early-to-mid 20th centuries; the rise of organized anti-environmental movements in the 1970s and early ‘80s; and the growing linkages between anti-environmentalists and far-Right organizations.


Learning Outcomes:
Students will:
-engage in close readings of difficult theoretical and historical texts
-begin to parse out the complex linkages between structures and agents
-research contemporary anti-environmental organizations using content and discourse analysis
-write a multi-iterative research paper


Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Prerequisites:
Previous course-work in SCT or Environmental Studies. Interested students should email the instructor (johnhultgren@bennington.edu) a paragraph explaining why you want to take the course, and how it relates to your Plan.
Course Level: 4000-level
Credits: 4
T/F 10:30AM - 12:20PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 18
Course Frequency: One time only

Categories: All courses , CAPA , Environment , Fully In-Person , Society Culture and Thought
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