Environmental Issues

Question

This class has looked at world history from the perspective of Environmental Health. As a global oriented course, our focus has been to examine environmental health from various themes; such as, colonialism, agriculture, commodities, and energy. The main learning objective of the course is for students to establish the basis to assess situations from an environmental health perspective. In short, to apply the ideas learned in this course to the modern world.

This midterm exam will consist of 2 primary source packets. You must choose one (1) and provide a 2 to 3 page discussion of how they can be read from an environmental health perspective through exploring themes discussed in the class so far.

What criteria am I looking for?

Does the essay show:

·       How the sources are examples of environmental and/or medical history?

·       What they taught you about the historical moment they describe?

·       a reading of the primary sources? Including using all sources in the packet the writer chooses

·       connections with the themes of the course regardless of geography?

·       an argument?

·       a level of analysis that goes beyond simply offering a synopsis of the primary sources?

·       Being judicious in the use of quotes, and not adding quotes for the sake of adding quotes, as a writer should only quote what they cannot state in their own words?

Packet 1: Africa

“Africa’s Resources” by Kwame Nkrumah in The Ghana Reader

“Hydro-Power and the Promise of Modernity and Development in Ghana” by Stephan Miescher and Dzodzi Tsikata in The Ghana Reader

"Industrial Johannesburg" by Violet Markham in The South Africa Reader