Instructor: Erik Klemetti, Department of Geology, College of Letters and Science
Description: Since the dawn of civilization, humans have had a close relationship with volcanoes owing to the fertile soils of their slopes and surrounding areas. This has produced a plethora of cultural products that have been humanity’s attempt to understand what exactly is “a volcano.” We will examine the interaction between volcanoes and their products with human culture from ancient to modern times and investigate how human culture has handled volcanism from ancient works such as the Letters of Pliny the Younger to Hollywood blockbusters such as Dante’s Peak and Volcano. Modern volcanology was born out of the need of humans to understand how volcanoes behave to mitigate against potential disasters as humans have always lived near (or even on) active volcanoes. By examining how human perception of volcanoes has changed, you will not only learn about volcanic processes and hazards, present all along the US West Coast, they will also be exposed to the development of the scientific method through time, the changes in human culture since antiquity and a variety of world cultures that have recorded their experience with volcanism. The majority of the coursework will be reading and discussion on human presentation and class discussion. No prior background in geology required. The goal of this course is for you to foster a broadly based view of volcanic activity, geology and society.
Format: Each week will have ~10-15 pages of reading outside of class from source materials or viewing of a film/video. You will be required to participate in weekly discussions about the readings or viewing. There will be group work outside the class at the end of the quarter for the class presentations on Dante’s Peak, Volcano or Supervolcano. There will be one, five-page paper on an aspect of human perception of volcanoes in antiquity. This paper will go through a cycle of revising with the instructor before the final draft. Grading: Grading will be as follows – 25% - attendance and participation; 35% - paper and revisions on volcanism and human antiquity; and 40% - presentation on volcanoes in modern cinema.
About the Instructor: Dr. Klemetti is a researcher in active volcanism and has worked on volcanoes in Chile, New Zealand and Oregon.