Book & Film Groups
The Three Gorges Dam: From River Town to Now
On the anniversary of the publication of the classic 2001 book, River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze, by Peter Hessler, this course will tie Hessler’s work to the development of the dam project, its impacts, and challenges over the past two decades.
This course will consider the geographic and historical context of Three Gorges Dam project and its corresponding energy, environmental, and human impacts. Through a wide
variety of sources including interviews, film, investigative news reports, and podcasts, participants will discuss China’s push for hydropower-green energy,
the dam project’s social and human repercussions, the impact of China’s hydropower dams on other Asian nation’s water supplies, and the challenge
of flooding. Our instructor for this course is Dr. Lauren Collins, University of Montana.