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
Tags: CAPA , conservatism , Environment , environmental justice , Environmental Studies , Research , SCT , Writing