This seminar will use an environmental lens to explore histories of the global circulation of things, people, ideas, and power. We’ll look at cases involving commodities like sugar, cotton, and bird poop; diseases, such as yellow fever; imperialist resource extraction; and the history of whales and fisheries. The course will develop skills of thinking, researching, and writing like an environmental historian. Each student will become an expert on a topic of their choice, using both primary and secondary sources to prepare a 15-20 page research paper.