40-group – Environmental Studies - Historical, Cultural and Societal Perspectives (40ENVIRONMENT)
About the course group
The climate crisis and sustainability are among the main challenges of our time. In order to meet them, we need to combine perspectives from various disciplines, and to build on existing theories as well as to renew our topical agenda.
This transdisciplinary course group combines historical, cultural and philosophical perspectives on nature and society and builds on insights from the humanities as well as the social sciences. The course group offers a bouquet of conceptual, methodological and thematic approaches to understand how climate change impacts on how we live, engage, consume, and develop within and alongside nature.
Students will be introduced to the course group through a kick-off event on campus, and there will be opportunities to combine courses within philosophy, culture studies, history, languages, music studies and media studies.
Learning outcome
Completing the course group will provide:
- Historical knowledge about how the relationship between society, politics and the climate have developed in the western world, and key trends across various historical phases.
- Cross-disciplinary concepts, methods and tools to analyse environmental issues and dilemmas, combining the humanities and social sciences.
- Insight into philosophical and cultural perspectives on the climate crisis and how these perspectives might enlighten the societal debate.
Courses in group
- B-LAB2000 – B?rekraftlaboratoriet: tverrfaglig praksisemne
- ENG2507 – American Environmental History
- FIL2390 – Environmental Philosophy (some semesters offered in Norwegian)
- HIS2170 – Climate and History: From the Little Ice Age to Global Warming
- HIS2176 – Nature's Mirror: Histories of Early Modern Environmental Knowledge
- HIS2354 – The History of Consumption
- IDE2019 – Tenkning om natur og milj? fra antikken til antropocen (offered in English on request)
- ILN2301 – Energifortellinger i b?rekraftperspektiv (offered in Norwegian)
- KULH2011 – The Cultural History of Nature
- KUN2203 – Design og ?kologi
- MUS2651 – Music and the environment
- MEVIT2615 – Framing the environment in media and communication studies
Cross-disciplinary and flexible
The students may combine the courses of their own choice and in the order most fruitful in their overall degrees.
Relevant for the following study programmes and programme options
The course group can be integrated in a variety of study programmes at the University of Oslo. Please check the overview at your program.
Other
Study abroad/exchange student
Environmental studies and sustainability are an important thematic field internationally, and there will be a variety of possibilities for students to study abroad. If you want to expand the perspectives beyond the available courses at the Faculty of Humanities or the University of Oslo, you can study abroad for a semester, and it is possible to exchange up to 20 student credits from a university abroad. The courses need to be at the right level of teaching and be relevant for the course group.
Qualifying for further studies and relevant work
This course group enables students to develop cross-disciplinary skills and knowledge, which is highly attractive both for further studies within humanities, social sciences, and interdisciplinary programs. In the current work marked, knowledge about environmental issues and perspectives on sustainability is often mentioned by Norwegian institutions and companies as the key skill needed in the near future. The course group will strengthen the students’ ability to combine different perspectives and will thus more easily adapt to complex work environments, both in Norway and internationally.