Environmental History Pathway

Undergraduates interested in pursuing a pathway focused on environmental history can fulfill the geographic distributional requirements of the History Major, as well as its pre-industrial and seminar requirements, while deepening their expertise in the field. 

ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY examines the complex historical relationship between people and the natural environment. Environmental historians study how humans have perceived and shaped nature, and how people have been influenced by, and adapted to, a changing natural world.

Environmental history provides excellent preparation for careers in law, policy, education, science, business, and public service, and undergraduates who have concentrated in environmental history have gone on to successful careers in all these fields.  The environmental history pathway is global in scope and also engages all periods of history.

Environmental historians approach the field from different perspectives, including political, economic, social, intellectual, and cultural history.  Students have written senior essays on energy development, suburbanization, agriculture, urban gardening, environmental politics, land use struggles, environmental education, national parks and forests, nuclear power, and many other topics.

Yale historians specialize in African, Asian, European, Latin American, Middle Eastern, North American, and international environmental history.  Department of History faculty members who teach courses or do research related to environmental history include:

Paula Bertucci                 Naomi Lamoreaux

Fabian Drixler                 Joseph Manning

Mariola Espinosa              Alan Mikhail

John Mack Faragher         Alyssa Mt. Pleasant

Paul Freedman                Peter Perdue

Robert Harms                  William Rankin

Jay Gitlin                         Paul Sabin

Paul Kennedy                  Stuart Schwartz             

Daniel Kevles                  Frank Snowden

Benedict Kiernan             Jenifer Van Vleck

Jennifer Klein

The following courses may be of particular interest to students.  For current course offerings, please visit the Yale College Programs of Study.  For more information about environmental history resources at Yale, visit http://www.yale.edu/environmentalhistory.html.

Environmental History Pathway
Courses that satisfy the United States or Canadian History requirement (two terms):
HIST 115J Property Rights in U.S. History Lamoreaux Seminar  
HIST 120 Introduction to Environmental History Sabin Lecture  
HIST 135 American Economic History Lamoreaux Lecture  
HIST 141 The American West Faragher Lecture  
HIST 144 Science and Technology in the U.S. Kevles Lecture  
HIST 147J Science, Arms, and the State Kevles Seminar  
HIST 131J Urban History in the U.S., 1870-present Klein Seminar  
HIST 132J U.S. Global Resource Frontiers Sabin Seminar  
HIST 152J Land, Homelands, and American Indian Histories Mt. Pleasant Seminar  
HIST 159J Research in the History of the American West Faragher Seminar  
HIST 180J Energy in American History Sabin Seminar  
HIST 193 Molecules, Life, and Disease: Twentieth Century Summers Lecture  
HSHM 211 Catastrophe and the Earth Sciences Since 1850 Rankin Seminar  
HIST 212J History of Food and Cuisine Freedman Seminar  
HSHM 422 Cartography, Territory, and Identity Rankin Seminar  
HIST 006a Medicine and Society in American History Tannenbaum Freshman Seminar
         
Courses that satisfy the European or British History requirement (two terms):  
HIST 208 Food and Diet in Greco-Roman Antiquity Grimm Lecture Pre-Industrial
HSHM 211 Catastrophe and the Earth Sciences Since 1850 Rankin Seminar  
HIST 212J History of Food and Cuisine Freedman Seminar  
HIST 234 Epidemics and Society in the West since 1600 Snowden Lecture  
HIST 236 Nature, Art, and Science in Early Modern Europe Bertucci Lecture Pre-Industrial
         
Courses that satisfy the African, Asian, Latin American, or Middle Eastern requirement (three terms):
HIST 313J Asian Environment and Frontiers Perdue Seminar Pre-Industrial
HIST 359 Medicine and Public Health in Latin America, 1820-2000 Espinosa Seminar  
HIST 386J Environmental History of the Middle East Mikhail Seminar  
HIST 400 Global Problems of Population Growth Drixler/Wyman Lecture  
HIST 435J The Global Crisis of Malaria Snowden Seminar  
HIST 839* Environmental History of Africa Harms Seminar Pre-Industrial
HIST 965* Agrarian Societies Perdue, Scott, and Sivaramakrishnan Seminar Pre-Industrial
  * graduate courses that require permission of the instructor