HIST 311 - Environmental Justice Histories of Latin America

Latin America has historically been a center of global extraction, but it is also a region with a long history of contesting colonialism and inequality. This course examines histories of environmental injustice and movements for social and environmental justice in modern Latin America and the Caribbean. Blending multiple theoretical and disciplinary traditions, the course will expose students to a growing body of scholarship that analyzes how cultural, political, and economic factors have shaped natural and social landscapes in the region. We will explore the historical processes which have shaped environmental injustices and how people have contested them through topics ranging from mining, food, conservation, climate, and energy. Discussions, readings, and writing assignments will assess and reflect on how interdisciplinary sources, methods, and archives can inform reading and writing about environmental justice issues and their relevance, in combination with critical theory and political mobilization, to building more just futures during the Anthropocene and the contemporary global climate crisis.

Unit(s): 1
Group Distribution Requirement(s): Distribution Group II
Prerequisite(s): Sophomore standing
Instructional Method: Conference
Grading Mode: Letter grading (A-F)
Not offered: 2026-27
Group Distribution Learning Outcome(s):

Evaluate data and/or sources.
Analyze institutions, formations, languages, structures, or processes, whether social, political, religious, economic, cultural, intellectual or other.
Think in sophisticated ways about causation, social and/or historical change, human cognition, or the relationship between individuals and society, or engage with social, political, religious or economic theory in other areas.