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Edmund Russell's 'Evolutionary History: Prospectus For A New Field'

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In “Evolutionary History: Prospectus for a New Field”, Edmund Russell argues there is a distinct value in considering evolution when attempting to understand environmental history, and that this value lies in evolution being a valid explanation for the changes in both human and non-human actors. These actors are both changed over time in an evolutionary relationship that continually intertwines. Too fully understand the history behind the relationships between humans and the environment, one must understand that each places pressure on the other resulting in change over time. Evolutionary history is an attempt to not merely add to the discipline of evolutionary biology but to comprise many powerful ideas to construct a fuller understanding of history.
The expansion of evolutionary history has allowed for a deeper understanding into the relationship between nature and human. Moreover, by highlighting the evolutionary essence of organisms as an integral component in the narrative of environmental history, further exploration into the causes these changes can occur. The discipline of environmental history is a complex and ever-growing discourse that is being brought to the forefront of political and scientific discussion due to current environmental concerns. There are various ways in …show more content…

As Specht proposes, the biological evolution of the Longhorn as labourer was paralleled by a symbolic evolution of the Longhorns meaning and purpose to humans. This symbolic evolution serves as a tool to better construct an understanding of just how important the longhorn was as a historical actor. Though the physical animal lost its importance of once being an economic staple of the west in the 1900’s, it evolved into a symbol used to perpetuate the myth of what used to be the “authentic

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