220149 Natural Hazards and Disasters in North America and the Caribbean, c. 1600 to Hurricane Katrina (K) (WiSe 2015/2016)

What is a “natural hazard” as opposed to a “natural disaster”? How do natural hazards and disasters change or even shape societies through and over time? What role does memory play for coping with and adapting to natural hazards? Why are some societies more vulnerable to natural hazards than others? And why should we study disasters historically? This course intends to answer these questions (and a few more…) by focusing geographically on the disaster-prone Caribbean archipelago and the North American continent between 1600 and Hurricane Katrina (2005).

We will dive into the interdisciplinary field of historical disaster studies, a sub-field of environmental history. Be prepared to meet Anthropologists, Geographers and Sociologists throughout the course literature! The first three sessions will introduce the most important theoretical concepts employed in this field of research. The following sessions focus on specific kinds of disasters and either on specific case studies or on longer-term overviews over one type of disaster in a particular place.

Please register on the Stud.IP platform, the course literature will be available to download from there for each session.

Teilnahmevoraussetzungen, notwendige Vorkenntnisse

fluency in English