Seminar in Advanced Historical Study

This seminar is an advanced course in the reading of influential approaches to history, and research on an individual student project. Students will gain familiarity with important trends in American historiography, examine historical method, and undertake work on an historical project of their own choosing, in consultation with the professor. This particular section of History 401 will focus on the close examination of an emerging field of inquiry--Environmental History--in order to trace the ways in which historians have approached their topics of research in a variety of manners. In addition, since we live in Staten Island, we will be focusing on the largely-unwritten environmental history of Staten Island, using local resources and archives to document this unfolding story. The course also aims to familiarize the student with the construction of historical arguments (thesis, methodology, historiography, evidence, sources, research, and narrative), as well as identifying areas for further research.

Course Requirements:

All students are required to attend class meetings and take part in discussions. Written work will require students to synthesize lecture materials as well as readings. Students must also read and assimilate required readings, and be prepared to discuss readings on the schedule given below. Students will submit all assignments on time; late papers will not be accepted without prior arrangement with the professor. Further, no student with more than three unexcused absences will receive a passing grade for the course.

A Note About Academic Integrity: Integrity is fundamental to the academic enterprise. It is violated by acts such as borrowing or purchasing term papers, essays, reports, and other written assignments; using concealed notes or crib sheets during examinations; copying others' work and submitting it as one's own; and misappropriating the knowledge of others. The sources from which one derives one's ideas, statements, terms, and data must be fully and specifically acknowledged in the appropriate form; failure to do so, intentionally or unintentionally, constitutes plagiarism. Violations of academic integrity may result in failure in the course and in disciplinary actions with penalties such as suspension or dismissal from the College.

Contacting the Professor:

My office is in 2N 203, and my office phone is 718-982-2869; I have office hours Mondays from 10:00 to 12:00 and 2:30 to 4:30, Wednesdays from 3:00 to 4:00, and by appointment. You may also reach me via email at lavender@postbox.csi.cuny.edu.

Assignments:

Class Journal (weekly writings about readings) (35% of course grade)--Click here for "Elements of a Monograph"
Class Attendance/Participation (30% of course grade)
Final Research Essay (35% of course grade)--Click here for the list of topics for the research essay.

Required Texts:

    Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962).
    William Cronon, Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England (New York: Hill and Wang, 1983).
    Theodore Steinberg, Nature Incorporated: Industrialization and the Waters of New England (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1994).
    Joel A. Tarr, The Search for the Ultimate Sink: Urban Pollution in Historical Perspective (Akron: University of Akron Press, 1996).
    Martin Melosi, Garbage in the Cities (College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1981).
    Charles L. Sachs, Made On Staten Island: Agriculture, Industry, and Suburban Living in the City (Staten Island: Staten Island Historical Society, 1988).

    Garrett Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons," Science, 162 (December 13, 1968), 1243-48.
    William Cronon, "Kennecott Journey: The Paths out of Town" from Under an Open Sky (1992).
    William Cronon, "A Place for Stories: Nature, History and Narrative," Journal of American History 78, 4 (1992), pp. 1347-76.
    Richard White, "American Environmental History: The Development of a New Historical Field." Pacific Historical Review 54.3 (1985), pp. 297 - 335.
    Donald Worster, ed., "A Round Table: Environmental History," JAH, 76 (1990): 1087-1147.
    William Cronon, "The Uses of Environmental History," Environmental History Review 17.3 (1993), pp. 1-22.
    Donald Worster, "Doing Environmental History," in The Ends of the Earth, pp. 289-307.
    Pierce F. Lewis, "Axioms for Reading the Landscape: Some Guides to the American Scene," in The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes: Geographical Essays, ed. D. W. Meinig (Oxford University Press, 1979): 11-32.
    D. W. Meinig, "The Beholding Eye: Ten Versions of the Same Scene," in The Interpretation of Ordinary Landscapes: 32-48.
    David R. Meyer, "The New Industrial Order," in The Making of the American Landscape, ed. Michael P. Conzen (Routledge, 1994): 249-268.
    Michael P. Conzen, "Ethnicity on the Land," in The Making of the American Landscape: 221-248.
    Edward K. Muller, "The Americanization of the City," in The Making of the American Landscape: 269-92.
    Lynne Page Snyder, "'The Death Dealing Smog over Donora, Pennsylvania': Industrial Air Pollution, Public Health Policy, and the Politics of Expertise, 1948-9," EHR vol. 18 no. 1 (Spring 1994): 117-140.
    Andrew Hurley, "Creating Ecological Wastelands: Oil Pollution in New York City, 1870-1900," Journal of Urban History, 20 (May 1994), 340-64.
    Craig E. Colten, "Industrial Wastes in Southeast Chicago: Production and Disposal, 1870-1970," Environmental Review, 10 (Summer 1986), 93-105.
    Robert Gottlieb, "Ethnicity as a Factor: The Quest for Environmental Justice," in Forcing the Spring: The Transformation of the American Environmental Movement (Island Press, 1993): 235-269.
    Robert W. Lake, "Volunteers, NIMBYs, and Environmental Justice: Dilemmas of Democratic Practice," Antipode 28:2 (1996): 160-74.
    Florence Gardner and Simon Greer, "Crossing the River: How Local Struggles Build a Broader Movement," Antipode 28:2 (1996): 175-192.
    Susan L. Cutter, "Race, Class, and Environmental Justice," Progress in Human Geography 19, 1 (1995): 111-22.

Additional materials for this course are available via the WWW at http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/history/dept/lavender/401extra.html

Course Schedule:

Week One: Introduction
	Monday, February 2	Starting Places
	Wednesday, February 4	Introduction to Environmental History--View Earth and the American Dream in class

Week Two: Environmental History Foundations
	Monday, February 9	Principles of the Field--What is an environment? What makes it historical? Discuss Hardin, "The Tragedy of the Commons"; Cronon, "Kennecott Journey"; Cronon, "A Place for Stories"
	Wednesday, February 11	Discuss Carson, Silent Spring; view documentary about Rachel Carson in class
	Readings: Carson, Silent Spring

Week Three: Environmental History Historiography
	Monday, February 16	CUNY CLOSED--No Classes
	Wednesday, February 18	Discuss Environmental Historiography Essays
	Readings: White, "American Environmental History"; Worster, "A Round Table: Environmental History"; Cronon, "The Uses of Environmental History"; Worster, "Doing Environmental History"

Week Four: Geography of Place
	Monday, February 23	Reading the Landscape; Discuss Lewis, "Axioms for Reading the Landscape"; Meinig, "The Beholding Eye"
	Wednesday, February 25	Landscape-Reading Field Trip (wear warm clothes and shoes that can get muddy)
	Readings: Lewis, "Axioms for Reading the Landscape"; Meinig, "The Beholding Eye"; Using Meinig and Lewis as guidelines, read (and be ready to discuss) any landscape in the vicinity of the College of Staten Island

Week Five: Tracing the Changes on the Land
	Monday, March 2	Discuss Cronon, Changes in the Land--Theoretical/Methodological/Epistemological Implications
	Wednesday, March 4	Discuss Cronon, Changes in the Land--The Narrative
	Readings: Cronon, Changes in the Land.

Week Six: Industrial Development
	Monday, March 9	Discuss Meyer, "The New Industrial Order"
	Wednesday, March 11	Discuss Steinberg, Nature Incorporated
	Readings: Meyer, "The New Industrial Order"; Steinberg, Nature Incorporated

Week Seven: Immigration, Urbanization, and Landscapes
	Monday, March 16	Discuss Conzen, "Ethnicity on the Land" and Muller, "The Americanization of the City"
	Wednesday, March 18	Discuss Tarr, The Search for the Ultimate Sink
	Readings: Conzen, "Ethnicity on the Land"; Muller, "The Americanization of the City"; Tarr, The Search for the Ultimate Sink

Week Eight: Case Studies in Industrialization and Eastern Urban Environments
	Monday, March 23	Discuss Melosi, Garbage in the Cities
	Wednesday, March 25	Discuss Snyder, "Smog"; Hurley, "Creating Ecological Wastelands"; Colten, "Industrial Wastes in Southeast Chicago"
	Readings: Melosi, Garbage in the Cities; Snyder, "Smog"; Hurley, "Creating Ecological Wastelands"; Colten, "Industrial Wastes in Southeast Chicago"

Week Nine: Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Ethnicity, and the Environment
	Monday, March 30	Gottlieb, "Ethnicity as a Factor"
	Wednesday, April 1	Discuss Lake, "Volunteers, NIMBYs, and Environmental Justice"; Gardner and Greer, "Crossing the River"; Cutter, "Race, Class, and Environmental Justice"
	Readings: Gottlieb, "Ethnicity as a Factor"; Lake, "Volunteers, NIMBYs, and Environmental Justice"; Gardner and Greer, "Crossing the River"; Cutter, "Race, Class, and Environmental Justice"

Staten Island--A Case Study
	Monday, April 6	Discuss Sachs, Made On Staten Island
	Wednesday, April 8	NO CLASS MEETING--Classes follow Friday Schedule
	Readings: Sachs, Made On Staten Island

Week of April 10-18--Spring Break, CSI Closed

Week Eleven: Final Projects Under Construction
	Monday, April 20	Discussion of Research Methodologies
	Wednesday, April 22	Individual Meetings with Professor (to be scheduled during course meeting in 2N203)
	Readings: Packet of primary sources (to be distributed)

Week Twelve: Final Projects Under Construction
	Monday, April 27	Individual Meetings with Professor (to be scheduled during course meeting in 2N203)
	Wednesday, April 29	Individual Meetings with Professor (to be scheduled during course meeting in 2N203)

Week Thirteen: Final Projects Under Construction
	Monday, May 4	Draft of Final Project Essay Due; Class Meets for Discussion of Projects
	Wednesday, May 6	Individual Meetings with Professor (to be scheduled during course meeting in 2N203)

Week Fourteen: Final Paper Presentations
	Monday, May 11	Group One
	Wednesday, May 13	Group Two

Week Fifteen: Final Paper Presentations
	Monday, May 18	Group Three
	Wednesday, May 20	Group Four

Week Sixteen: Final Papers Due
	Monday, 25 May	Final Paper Due