Two Movements that have Shaped a Nation: A Course in the Convergence of Professional values and Environmental Struggles 1

Abstract

The Lakota people knew that failure to respect living creatures and the earth, sky and water that gives life to them leads to lack of respect for humans. A century later students are learning this indigenous principle through an analysis of the history of social welfare and how it correlates with the environmental movement. Arcata, California, a community recognized for “green” politics and environmental activism, provides a natural setting for a university course that links two major American social movements: environmentalism , a commitment to the preservation of the natural world, and social welfare , the struggle for social justice and human rights. The following is a description of the planning and implementation of an undergraduate level course that documents the evolution, structure and ideological convergence of both movements over the last 150 years.