Courses

In our modern environment, lit up by electric lights, connected by combustion engines and produced by power stations, we often forget the extent to which society is ultimately powered by the sun. And yet the means through which societies gather and deploy sun power affects the very way in which we organize our social and political lives. This course will introduce students to the transformations societies underwent in garnering solar power from wood, water, wind, plants and human and animal muscle to solar power’s more modern forms of coal, oil and gas. From the Great Divergence of the late 18th century that saw the rise to prominence of the West over other regions of the world, through the political changes that followed alterations in the energy regime from coal to oil, to the environmental challenges we face today, we will examine energy as a driving force in history. The class will make a global tour of technological, environmental, political, economic and social history in order to deepen our appreciation of the ways energy has structured and continues to organize the world we live in.