NRAH LECTURE OBJECTIVES
NRAH Home Schedule
	Please note: this list of lecture objectives is subject to change. Revisions or additions may occur before or after a given lecture. Please double-check this list prior to exams. Teaching and Learning History • Distinguish between history and historiography • Identify primary, secondary, and tertiary historical sources and explain the similarities and differences among these • Compare and contrast "shallower" and "deeper" versions of history • Describe the sub-discipline of environmental history Old and "New" Worlds • Identify the date of first human settlement in America and the date of Columbus’ first voyage • Explain 4 (out of at least 6) factors that contributed to the “rise of the West” • Describe Columbus’ positive and negative contributions to history • Identify 3 countries that established a presence in the New World • Describe mercantilism Who Really Discovered America DVD • Draw and label a timeline of the various explorers/discoverers investigated in the documentary • Compare the theories in the video with the table in the Loewen text (pp.40-41) ? Describe one culture/explorer covered in the documentary and discuss similarities and differences with Loewen ? Including types and strength of historical evidence • Analyze the various theories and state your opinion about the most likely "discoverer" Native Americans & European Americans • Define acculturation, syncretism, cultural imperialism, and hegemony • Describe examples of acculturation and cultural imperialism in the context of Native American-Euro-American relations • Identify the date of the Indian Removal Act • Discuss similarities and differences between the Native American and Euro-American concepts of land tenure and property • Critique the concept of the Ecological Indian and be able to support your argument with examples Constitutional Foundations of Environmental and Natural Resources Law • Describe the allocation of powers defined by the Constitution • Identify the date the Constitution was adopted • List three parts of the Constitution that provide a basis for environmental laws Settlement, Revolution and Founding • Identify the date and place of the first permanent English colonial settlement • Relate the traditional story of the Revolution and Raphael’s (2002) thesis about the “first” revolution, including the date • Describe what Appleby (1992) labels America’s “creation myth” including the political ideologies of the founding • Explain the ways in which America was a Great Experiment in government Western Frontiers and Manifest Destiny • Identify the date of the Northwest Ordinance and describe two of its tenets • Describe the Great Experiment in land use and its implications • Explain the meaning of “manifest destiny” and identify the date this term was coined • Identify the date of the closing” of the frontier • Explain and critique Turner’s frontier thesis Nature's Metropolis: Preface, Prologue, Ch 1 • State Cronon’s thesis in Nature’s Metropolis • Distinguish between first and second nature • Explain the city/country dichotomy • Identify the date of the completion of the Erie Canal • Compare and contrast the city/country/frontier theories of Turner, the Boosters, and Von Thünen Nature's Metropolis: Ch 2, Rails and Water •   Describe the natural advantages and disadvantages of Chicago •   Describe the ways in which second nature was created to overcome the natural disadvantages of Chicago • Discuss the ways in which railroads liberated people from first nature • Explain two factors that contributed to Chicago’s railroad hegemony Race: The Power of an Illusion DVD • Explain the concept of race in terms of biology and sociology (genetics vs. social constructs) • Identify the origin of the theory of race in American history • Describe the ways in which science influenced the concept of race in the 19^th century, and then in the 20^th century The Civil War and Reconstruction • Identify the dates of the Civil War • Compare and contrast the political ideologies related to sectional differences and relate these to the ideologies of the founding era • Describe the “magnolia myth” • Define the “racial nadir” ...........Midterm Exam..................... Industrialization and Progressivism • Describe laissez-faire political economy • Identify two Progressive movements other than conservation • Identify the dates of the Progressive Movement Nature's Metropolis: Ch 3, Pricing the Future: Grain • Describe the transformation of grain from a physical object to “golden stream” and state the implications of this change • Identify two inventions that aided this transformation of grain • Describe the evolution of the futures market • Identify the date and significance of Munn vs. Illinois Nature's Metropolis: Ch 4, The Wealth of Nature: Lumber, and Ch 5, Annihilating Space: Meat • Describe the "landscape of mutual advantage" • Describe the vicious circle of lumber production and its consequences • Explain the evolution of the Chicago packing industry and the lasting implications • Compare and contrast the “nature to market” transformations of grain, lumber and meat Progressive Conservation • Describe the key tenets of Progressive Conservation • Explain the ideology of Progressive Conservation • Identify the date of the Forest Reserve Act and the Transfer Act • Describe Gifford Pinchot’s influence on forestry in America Reclamation • Explain the reality of first nature in the West and how the dogma of manifest destiny overcame that reality • Distinguish between western (prior appropriation) and eastern (riparian) water rights • Identify the date of the Reclamation (Newlands) Act • Describe the urban imperialism of Los Angeles • Compare and contrast the historical development of Los Angeles and Chicago Nature's Metropolis: Ch 6, Gateway City, and Ch 7, The Busy Hive • Define "geography of capital" • Explain the ways in which Cronon uses the geography of capital to support his thesis • Contrast Chicago's “gateway city” market geography with Von Thünen’s model • Describe the new culture of buying and selling and its implications (including its paradox) • Compare the 19th century revolution in buying and selling to present trends Nature's Metropolis: Ch 8, The White City; Epilogue • Explain the Phoenix metaphor and its significance to Chicago’s history. • Draw and label the intersecting city-country dichotomies of the late 19th century • Describe the origin and significance of the suburb. • Explain the concept of a 'recreational hinterland' and its relevance to contemporary natural resources management Surviving the Dust Bowl video • Identify the size of the area of the Dust Bowl and three of the states included • Identify the date of the “Black Sunday’ of the Dust Bowl • Name the “father” of soil conservation • Describe three implications of the Dust Bowl Dust Bowl and New Deal • Describe the factors that led to the Dust Bowl • Explain the fundamental difference between Progressive and New Deal conservation policy • Describe the Constitutional revolution Environmental Movement and Backlash • Explain the differences between the modern (3rd) environmental movement and previous conservation movements (Progressive (1st) and New Deal (2nd)) • Describe the modern environmental movement • Describe the backlash Wise Use / Property Rights movement • Identify the dates of the Environmental Movement (Earth Day 1970) and the backlash Wise Use Movement (1988) Blood and Oil video • Identify the origin of the United States' strategic ties to Persian Gulf oil (date and country) • Explain the change in presidential doctrines and their relation to creation of CENTCOM The U.S., Oil, and the Middle East:  A bloody raod to energy insecurity • Identify the date of U.S. ties to Middle East Oil • Describe the difference in policy toward regime change / intervention in the Middle East under the Obama administration Progress and Technology: Into the 21st Century • Explain the traditional paradigm of progress and its treatment in American history texts • Compare and contrast the frontier mentality and spaceship mentality • Describe the “tragedy of the commons”