This seminar series will analyse the global history of deforestation and resistance over the last five centuries. Since 1500 the expansion of colonisation and capitalism has been the most important driver of deforestation on a global scale. However, over this same time period resistance by Indigenous forest peoples and by regional political movements has also played a major but unrecognised role in conserving forests. Here we will learn how to analyse this history, drawing on historical archives, Indigenous community co-research, palaeobotany, satellite photography, and mapping techniques.
Class 1: Capitalism and Deforestation since 1500
Class 2: Indigenous Resistance and Forest Survival since 1500
Class 3: The Map as Method
Class 4: Global Forest Politics since 1750
