How did the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew facilitate the British project of empire? How is Jane Eyre connected to slavery and deforestation? In this class, we will learn about the historical roots of some of today’s most pressing issues, including climate change & systemic racism, in the nineteenth century projects of colonialism and industrialization. We will also show how colonialism and industry were bound up in and enabled by the study and writing of the natural world. This course will cover a variety of genres, connect such disparate locations as England, the Caribbean, and South Africa, and ask that you consider your own relationship to local and global environments. We will engage with historical scientific writings, as well as with travel narratives and slave narratives, with rich ecological poetry, adventure novels, and contemporary academic scholarship.

Course Requirements:

Course requirements include a short close reading essay, a semester-long species list project, and a final research project.