Globalization, Environmental Change, and Social History

Social and environmental historians assess the extent to which transnational agents changed socioecological space as a consequence of globalization.

Peter Boomgaard (Edited by), Marjolein 't Hart (Edited by)

9781107401518, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 24 February 2011

244 pages
22.6 x 15.2 x 1 cm, 0.34 kg

Throughout all ages, the activities of mankind have weighed heavily upon the environment. In turn, changes in that environment have favoured the rise of certain social groups and limited the actions of others. Despite this, environmental history has remained a 'blind spot' for most social and economic historians. This is to be regretted, as the various and unequal effects of environmental change often explain the strengths and weaknesses of certain social groups, irrespective of their being defined along the lines of class, gender and ethnicity. This volume brings together the expertise of social and environmental historians in an effort to assess the extent to which transnational agents changed socioecological space as a consequence of globalization since the Late Middle Ages.

Introduction Peter Boomgaard and Marjolein 't Hart
1. The El Dorado of forestry: the local and global histories of the eucalyptus in India, South Africa and Thailand, 1850–2000 Brett Bennett
2. The mid-Atlantic islands: a theatre of early modern ecocide? Stefan Halikowski-Smith
3. Environmental change and globalization in seventeenth-century France: Dutch traders and the draining of French wetlands (Arles, Petit Poitou) Raphael Morera
4. The colonial famine plot: slavery, war and empire in the French Atlantic, 1763–91 Joseph Horan
5. Environmental changes, the emergence of a fuel market, and the working conditions of salt makers in Bengal, c.1780–1845 Sayako Kanda
6. The 'special settlers' in the Khibiny mountains: an environmental interpretation of their experience during Stalinist industrialization Andy Bruno
7. 'Pumpkins just got in there': gender and generational conflict and 'improved' agriculture in colonial Zimbabwe Guy Thompson
8. Hydro-businesses: national and global demands influencing meanings and uses of the São Francisco river basin environment of Brazil Lucigleide Nery Nascimento and Mimi Larsen Becker.

Subject Areas: Industrialisation & industrial history [HBTK], Social & cultural history [HBTB], History: specific events & topics [HBT], General & world history [HBG], History [HB]