Admission requirements
Not applicable.
Description
Humans have been drastically affecting the planet’s biodiversity (ecosystem, species and genetic diversity) for millennia. Human populations steadily increased in size, and in combination with human behaviour, other species have been forced to change their habitats and behaviours. Many have become extinct, others have managed to co-evolve in more successful ways. These changes have in turn significantly altered our perspective on nature. We are apparently incapable of transmitting the information re. these changes in nature from one generation to the other. As a consequence, a collective consciousness on changes in nature, or natural history, is near absent. This phenomenon is a consequence of the shifting baseline syndrome: as our surroundings evolved, so does our perception of what is ‘normal’ in nature. This means that with each successive generation a new reference for the status of nature is created. The reference for the quality of nature shifts and changing environmental conditions, in many cases leading to extinction, become the 'new normal'.
This course will look at the fragmented, selective and incomplete way humans remember environmental changes of which they themselves have been the cause. The lecturer will discuss a range of cases, exploring the dynamics of forgetting and remembering changes to the environment, and the relationship between the two. The consequences of the passive forgetting that lies at the basis of our shifting baselines will be addressed. The focus will be on changes in wildlife (mainly birds, mammals, fishes) as these groups have been studied extensively within a shifting baseline context. This is examined from a historical and ecological perspective, among other things, and how these two disciplines relate to each other when it comes to the consequences of passive forgetting.
We will also study the development of memory studies in general with an emphasis on how environmental change is actively preserved, or not, in collective memory. Next, related topics as the Anthropocene, and the position of nature and natural history in heritage studies will be addressed. Extinction events will form another topic of study: we will look the active remembering of extinctions, in the form of monuments, museums and rituals – small islands of purposeful commemoration in a sea of forgotten events.
The collected information will be analysed within the theoretical frameworks of the course, resulting in a group assignment (two to four students) with a final presentation, and an individual research essay that explores the relationship between the shifting baseline syndrome, memory studies and environmental history. The group assignment will call for active collection of data, for instance in the form of interviews, museum visits, fieldwork or archival research. During the lectures, extensive attention is paid to preparing the group assignment and the individual essay. Situated on the intersection between Memory Studies and Environmental Humanities, the course will offer theoretical tools in both fields and show how the fields can come together to help provide a better understanding of our relationship to the natural world around us.
Course objectives
After taking this course, students are
able to reflect on environmental change from a historical and theoretical perspective
aware of and able to apply a range of theoretical concepts and frameworks, essential to the fields of environmental humanities and memory studies
familiar with a range of case studies relevant to the field of environmental humanities as well as memory studies
able to collect and use data gathered as a basis for critical reflection and further research
able to initiate and execute an individual research project, in which they position themselves critically in contemporary scholarly debates, and in which they explicitly frame their own reading/approach
Timetable
The timetables are available through My Timetable.
Mode of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Research
Assessment method
Assessment
Individual essay
Group research project
Weighing
Individual essay (60% of the final grade); minimum grade required: 5.0
Group research project (40% of the final grade); minimum grade required: 5.0
The final mark for the course is established by determination of the weighted average combined with additional requirements. The additional requirements are a 5.0 for the essay and research project. To pass the course, the weighted average of the partial grades must be 5.5 or higher, which will be rounded off to a 6.0 (= a pass).
A grade between 5.0 and 5.5 for either assignment can be compensated for by the other assignment. Grades below 5.0 for either assignment are not accepted and a resit is required.
Resit
In case one (or both) of the assignments receive a grade below 5, a resit is possible, in the form of an individual essay (either new or a rewrite of the original essay). This resit is for the course as a whole and the grade for this assignment comes to replace the two partial grades of the other assignments. The resit grade is therefore automatically the final grade for the course.
Inspection and feedback
How and when an exam review will take place will be disclosed together with the publication of the exam results at the latest. If a student requests a review within 30 days after publication of the exam results, an exam review will have to be organized.
Reading list
Before the lectures, one to four (parts of) articles, reports or book chapters are made available. The tutorials go into these in more depth, and assignments on the material are carried out during the tutorials. This literature is compiled in such a way that students are introduced to the subject, after which deepening takes place during the lectures. A syllabus is not available for this course.
Introductory reading material (also used during the tutorials)
Pauly, Daniel. "Anecdotes and the shifting baseline syndrome of fisheries." Trends in ecology & evolution 10.10 (1995): 430.
Soga, Masashi, and Kevin J. Gaston. "Shifting baseline syndrome: causes, consequences, and implications." Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 16.4 (2018): 222-230.
Buell, Lawrence. "Uses and abuses of environmental memory." Contesting Environmental Imaginaries. Brill, 2017. 93-116.
Rost, Dietmar. "Shifting baselines: interdisciplinary perspectives on long-term change perception and memory." (2018): 17.
Registration
Enrolment through MyStudyMap is mandatory.
General information about registering for courses and exams can be found here
Registration Exchange
For the registration of exchange students contact Humanities International Office.
Contact
For substantive questions, contact the lecturer listed in the right information bar.
For questions about enrolment, admission, etc, contact the Education Administration Office: Reuvensplaats
Remarks
Not applicable.