Courses - 2026-2027

Fall 2026

 

SOC295: ENVIRONMENT, GOVERNANCE, RISK—Taught by Dr. Tom Beamish

 

Course Description: This quarter, we will explore the complex relationship between the environment, governance, and risk. That said, what is the environment? What is governance? And what is at risk? The environment, although a contested concept, is often used to emphasize the physical and ecological dimensions of the world, presenting them as concrete and factual, set in contrast to the supposedly abstract realms of human thought, ethical ideals, or divinity. Governance refers to the methods, practices, and forms of authority through which social life is organized and regulated. It establishes and sustains institutions—not only government and the legal system, but also markets, bureaucracies, religious and educational systems, professional associations, international organizations, and capitalism—whose rules, norms, and legitimating regimes shape power and social relations. Governance encompasses both formal procedures and the informal relationships and expectations that determine how we are governed and how we govern ourselves. In the social and behavioral sciences, risk commonly refers to situations in which something of collective importance—such as human life, property, or shared values—is perceived as threatened, or where pursuing a desired goal entails uncertainty, potential loss, and trade-offs in which both cost and benefit are possible. In environmental contexts, risk is often invoked to describe such trade-offs, where a proposed benefit carries the possibility of harm, or where controversy arises over efforts to downplay or frame that harm as manageable. Examining environment, governance, and risk together reveals how societies shape their relationship with the natural world and justify existing social hierarchies. This raises central questions for our exploration this quarter: Why does our way of life degrade the environment so dramatically, placing us all at risk? When we speak of “managing the environment,” “managing risks,” or practicing “environmental governance,” what do we really mean? Why are the harms of environmental disorganization so unequally distributed and so challenging to address? And finally, how might systems of governance respond to these persistent social and ecological challenges?

 

HIS 202H Race, Nature, & Conquest in North America--Taught by Dr. Louis Warren 

 
This course will explore major themes in the history and historiography of the field of US environmental history from the field’s origins in the late twentieth century through some of the most recent works to appear in the last few years. The class will consider how the field’s early insights into how Americans thought about and transformed the environment and were in turn shaped by it have evolved over time.  A provisional list of topics includes class, race, gender and sexuality,  Indigenous history, Black ecologies, conquest and settler colonialism, environmental justice. 


 

 

Winter 2027

 

CRD/GEO 251 Ecology & Society—Taught by Dr. Clare Cannon

 

Relationships between forces of society and the environment through careful examination of the interactions between politics, economics, and global dynamics. Schools of thought concerning society, gender, environmental dynamics, and political economic arrangements across local and global spheres.

As we move through foundational theories in society and natural systems (ecology), we will investigate major concepts in the field, such as what creates unequal distribution of socio-environmental inequalities across the urban arena and global sphere. How these different “places” inform responses to structural arrangements. This course provides students with the conceptual tools for work in environmental analyses, political economic thought, and sociology, as well as methods to make connections across these fields to other critical forms of knowledge production. In turn, we will extensively consider the interconnections among race, class, gender, development, and natural systems. To that end, each student should dedicate themselves to devoting adequate time to contemplate the readings prior to each class meeting and structure thoughtful contributions to class discussion.

 

Spring 2027 

 

EVH 200 CORE SEMINAR in Environmental Humanities– taught by Dr. Hsuan Hsu

 

EVH200 is the core seminar for graduate students from various disciplinary backgrounds in the humanities and beyond with an interest in pursuing the Designated Emphasis in Environmental Humanities. In this course we will discuss key issues, concepts, questions, and debates in the environmental humanities through discussions of classic and contemporary readings in the main disciplines that have contributed to Environmental Humanities scholarship.