Courses in this thematic area seek to apply the methodologies developed in a variety of fields to the question of the impact of nature, human as well as non-human, on history. Environmental historians have joined other historians of a more materialist or geographic bent in exploring the ways in which cultural values, technologies, and systems of labor and production have shaped–and been reshaped by–both urban and rural environments. Historians of health and medicine have meanwhile explored the human body in historical interaction with a nature within as well as beyond. Still other historians, interested in the powerful and often controversial roles science and technology play in the modern world, have studied the origins and means by which our knowledge and manipulation of nature has helped reconfigure modern politics, society, and culture. Stony Brook faculty members and graduate students have plied their research skills along all these fronts. Topics of courses and investigations might include history of the contrasts and inter-relations between city and country; technoscience in history; environment and health in global perspective; the history of technocracy; industry, place and politics; history of the body; and natural history and national culture.History of Long Island Superfund Sites
Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009
As a research project for my history of industrial hazards class (History 414), students created wikis on the history of some of Long Island’s hazardous waste sites, regulated under the EPA’s Superfund site. We’ve now converted the results into publicly available websites. Check it out if you are interested….
Suffolk County: Farmingdale area, Holbrook area, Port Jefferson/Upton area
Nassau County: Farmingdale area, Hicksville area