The Arctic: Global History from the Dog Sled to the Oil Rig

The Arctic is regularly in the media, thanks to climate change. This course examines the long history of human thinking about and habitation in the far north before and during the era of global warming. Focusing on how people valued, survived, and made the arctic home, topics range from whaling, the importance of dogs, cultural imaginaries and colonialism to capitalist and communist arctics, the meaning of sea ice, indigenous rights, and climate change. The course introduces historical methods and environmental history through reading, writing, discussion, and interpreting artifacts.