HIST 180 - Ecological Gandhi

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as ENST 180) Was Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - better known as Mahatma Gandhi - an environmentalist? Was he an ecologist? This “Great Soul” lived and worked at the very moment when modern ideas of ecology first emerged. His inspirations included Henry David Thoreau, a familiar icon of American environmentalism, and Henry Salt, an English advocate of vegetarianism and animal rights. He disapproved of machines, cautioned against overconsumption, made his own salt, and spun his own yarn. Famous environmental philosophers, activists, and politicians including Arne Naess, Vandana Shiva, and India’s newly elected Prime Minister Narendra Modi, all credit him as their inspiration. We search for answers (and discover controvery) in the authors who inspired Gandhi, in his own works, and in the publications of those he inspired. Ms. Hughes.

Open only to freshmen; satisfies the college requirement for a Freshman Writing Seminar.

Two 75-minute periods.