HISA 167: Environmental Histories of the Americas

This course studies how workers, Indigenous communities, and urban social movements have organized in the context of past environmental changes. We will focus on a few places in the Americas, including Northeastern Brazil, Navajo Nation, and New York City. We will track the development of capitalism in these areas and both the slow-moving and  sweeping environmental changes it produced. Then, we will learn about communities organizing amidst this turmoil: How did they resist exploitation? What sort of contradictions did they face? Through the story of these people, we will enter a world of economic structures and power relations. We will also see the workings of race and gender at play. Some of the questions we will address are: How did the production of commodities and energy transform environments across the Americas? What was the role of racial relations in shaping these developments? How did the legacies of environmental exploitation accumulate over time and how did these legacies affect the experience of people? This course will give you conceptual tools to understand environmental issues and activism today. 

Uranium Mining in Navajo Nation?

Signs pointing to different mining sites in Ambrosia Lake, New Mexico. Source: Tracy Voylles, Wastelanding: Legacies of Uranium Mining in Navajo Country, 2015.

In the twentieth century, large portions of Navajo territory were mined for uranium. The legacies of radiation and water contamination are still felt today. Our class will investigate how this process was closely tied to histories of settler colonialism and U.S. imperialism.

Rubber production in the Amazon?

Rubber workers in Northern Brazil organized by the union SEMTA. Circa 1940s. Source: Seth Garfield, In Search of the Amazon: The United States, Brazil, and the Nature of a Region, 2014.

We know about deforestation in the Amazon due to cattle ranching today. Yet, this region has a fascinating social history. During the Second World War, for instance, the governments of Brazil and the US encouraged the extraction of natural rubber from trees. They did so by arguing that tapping rubber was a patriotic duty (“rubber for victory” some ads said) and that workers were “rubber soldiers.”

All Topics and Readings

REQUIRED TEXTS: All readings will be available online (either on canvas or through online library access)

Unit 1 

Introduction: Racial Capitalism and the Environment

Week 1 

Unit 2

Sugar Plantations and the Brazilian Rainforest

Week 2

Week 3

Unit 3 

Energy Production in Navajo Nation

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

  • Review of Unit 3 (come prepared) 
  • Midterm Exam

Unit 4

Lead Contamination in New York City 

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

  • Review of Unit 4 (Come prepared)
  • Final discussion

Week 10 

  • Final Exam
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