418 Matching Annotations
  1. Jun 2019
    1. And if one of the critical lessons of the second generation of environmental history has been that knowledge of the natural world is unstable and culturally inflected, one of the most important future tasks will be to chart paths of action that are sensitive to these reali- ties but not hobbled by the

      More insight on the different waves of environmental history- 2nd wave- you cannot separate natural world from culture. Future challenge is to to understand this, but not be "hobbled" by it.

    2. Langston's study is innovative in its skillful elucidation of one of the central themes of this new literature on the environmental history of health -

      This seems to be the central theme of this section- that "bodies and environments are deeply interconnected". One can influence the other and vice versa. It seems to connect with the concept of hybridity that was posited earlier.

    3. the South's cotton economy, the boll weevil's more powerful causal role was in how it acted through cultur

      There always seem to be a combination of reasons that led to a change in culture (in this case, the economic advantages of slavery). Who would have guessed that the boll weevil was a helping agent of the abolitionists?

    4. d. This argument over the "black rice thesis," which has pulled in African and American historians, demonstrates how environmental analysis can reshape debates over the relative power of masters and slaves in the making of New Worl

      This is incredibly interesting to me that through a more detailed analysis of agriculture and knowledge of particular agriculture can better inform the relationships in a master/slave relationship.

    5. ined. First, environmental historians should attend to how environmental management worked prior to the rise of the moder

      It is important to remember other factors that influence the environment outside of the state. The state is but one actor among many.

    6. ral hu

      Often, it is the arrogance of our decisions that creates mistakes in the future.

    7. est. Environmental historians have shown, for instance, how the creation of national parks dispossessed native peoples; how national forests enclosed commons resources and displaced farming communities; how state and federal policies to protect fisheries and wildlife privileged recreational hunters and fishers and functioned to control immigrants, African Americans, Native Americans, and others with marginal access to state power; and how federal efforts to manage agricultur- al pests and modernize agriculture met with substantial agrarian p

      The other side of conservation: displacement of peoples and wildlife.

    8. m Rome has called the "environmental- manageme

      I am curious to see how this is defined. Upon review of Adam Rome from wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Rome) it appears that much of his work related to the environment interactions with society building in the postwar period of WWII.

    9. ical. For environmental historians there can be no "world without us" (to invoke Alan Weisman's provocative thought experiment about the envi- ronmental dynamics of an earth suddenly devoid of humanity), but that does not mean that "we are the w

      I would simplify this statement as a question of whether we the study of history is useful without humans and at the same time, only focusing on the environment through the lens of human view points is also problematic.

    10. , human or not, over time. They have rejected the notion that environments transformed by human activity are sullied and falle

      This seems like a sensible approach-more objective and from my perspective, in alignment with the study of history- a study that seeks to understand cause and effect and tell a story without judgement.

    11. a third ge

      Not as new of a field.

    12. he field's marginality may have lost their le

      Environmental History has gained mainstream acceptance in the historical community, inside and outside the U.S.

    13. wn lik

      Kudzu (/ˈkʊdzuː/; also called Japanese arrowroot)[1][2] is a group of plants in the genus Pueraria, in the pea family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae. They are climbing, coiling, and trailing perennial vines native to much of eastern Asia, Southeast Asia, and some Pacific islands.[2] The name is derived from the Japanese name for the plant East Asian arrowroot (Pueraria montana var. lobata), クズ or 葛 (kuzu).[3][note 1] Where these plants are naturalized, they can be invasive and are considered noxious weeds. The plant climbs over trees or shrubs and grows so rapidly that it kills them by heavy shading.[7] The plant is edible, but often sprayed with herbicides.[7]

      retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kudzu

    14. onald Worster, i

      I did a quick wikipedia search and read about Dr. Worster being considered one of the most influential voices on Environmental History. There is a quote at the end of the page where he defined farms as "domesticated ecologies" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Worster

    15. ne - environmental historians must better contend with and communicate the cultural, material, and moral complexity implicated i

      I hope this article provides information related to how historians can better communicate the complexity of the term.

    1. After you read and annotate the passage, you should write a succinct summary and comment on the reading that in about a single page (~500 words)

      Am I correct then that each text will require a 500 word (or more page note) to it? For example, this week, there are two texts, so there should be two 500 word page notes, correct?

    2. Page Note” in Hypothes.is,

      So, from what I understand, every week I should annotate my thoughts to the articles I am reading and respond to the annotations of others, and then create a 500 word page note that provides my reaction to the reading..

    1. For example, the shape of the American continents and the fact that they are connected to each other but cut off from the rest of the world has influenced American cultures from their prehistoric beginnings to the present.

      Thinking back to my time teaching American History to High School students, I can see that so much of the text and lesson guides encourages the students to focus on the individual decision makers, leaders, or individuals in history that created change in policy or culture, but not any of the other causes that may have impacted those changes. From a macro perspective, it is amazing that even the shape and location of our continents played a role in shaping culture and settlement history and how little attention this is given.