History598TopicsEnvironmentalHistoryofLatinAmerica.docVIP

History 598: Topics/Environmental History of Latin America Spring 2007 Dr. Heather L. McCrea Eisenhower 211 Office: 315 Eisenhower Hall 11:30-12:45 am T and TU Phone: 562-0625 Email: hmccrea@ Office Hours: T and TU 1:00-2:00 4:00-5:00, and by appointment Course Description This course is designed to introduce students to the fascinating and diverse history of Latin American ecological and biological environments. Environmental history of Latin America is closely intertwined with agricultural development, agro-economies, and land tenure regulations. Therefore, this course examines the fundamental role that changes in the land, have had on migration patterns, legislation formation, activism, subsistence, and state building. Some of the vital historical intersections we will explore in this course are; disease epidemics and tropical environments, work conditions and export economies, eco-tourism and community activism. Students leaving this course should be able to demonstrate understanding of the historical facts, themes, or ideas under examination. Geographically, Latin America and Caribbean regions will be examined in relation to three sub-themes: disease epidemics of tropic regions, human and animal bodies as environments, eco-tourism. Students will be introduced to environmental historiography, anthropological ethnographies. COURSE REQUIREMENTS ASSIGNED TEXTS There are 6 required books and 1 recommended text for this course. Additionally all students must register with the Kansas State Online (KSO) course site and will be responsible for monitoring the site for additional information on course assignments and requirements. Note that some REQUIRED primary and secondary source document readings are linked through the course Blackboard website, therefore all students who unfamiliar with KSO use need to consult the help desk personnel (IT). 1.) John Soluri, Banana Cultures: Agriculture, Consumption, and Environmental Change in Honduras and