Environmental Destruction:
An Introduction to the Environmental Humanities
What can the humanities teach us about our current environmental crisis? This question is at the heart of the “environmental humanities,” which consider the ways that humans are entangled in a world with plants, animals, and other “things” that are framed as “natural resources.”
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“Environmental Destruction” will focus on the ideological causes, palpable effects, and imagined futures linked to humans' destruction of our environments. In addition to one traditional paper you'll produce podcasts on the history of early conservation or preservation efforts and digital essays that introduce pressing environmental problems by situating them in a longer historical, literary, and cultural context.
Course Texts​
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Emerson and Thoreau, Nature & "Walking"
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Henry David Thoreau, Walden
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John Muir, Essential Muir
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Benjamin Kline, First Along the River
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Natasha Trethewey, Beyond Katrina
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Stephanie LeMenager, Living Oil
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Estes and Dhillon, Standing with Standing Rock
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Additional readings are posted on Canvas.
Assignments
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Participation (20%)
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Very Short Presentations (10%)
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Podcast (10%)
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Critical Response (20%)
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Final Project: (40%)
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Assignment details are linked to each title.
Course Schedule and Classrooms:
Section A: MW 5:00-6:30, A202, Tribble
Section B: MW 12:45-2, Room 1505, Wake Downtown
Section C: MW 2:15-3:30, Room 1505, Wake Downtown
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
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Weeks 1 & 2: Introductions & Ralph Waldo Emerson
August 28: In class: Introductions
In class: Syllabus and Assignments
August 30: Emerson, Nature, excerpts
September 4: Labor Day
September 6: Emerson, Nature, excerpts
Emerson, "The Young American," excerpts
Emerson; Natural History of the Intellect, excerpts
"Giving Emerson the Boot"
Weeks 3: Henry David Thoreau
September 11: Thoreau, Walden, “Economy," “Where I Lived"
September 13: Thoreau, Walden, “Higher Laws, “Conclusion”
See Course Policies and Campus Resources here.
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To learn about the history and genres of environmental literature
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To situate that literature within a number of relevant contexts
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To improve close reading skills
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To conduct research and engage with primary sources
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To produce, support, and revise argumentative essays
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To apply your thinking about literature and history to contemporary environmental issues
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To consider and practice sharing information with both peer and public audiences
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To share and collaboratively develop ideas about literature, environmental issues, and your own writing
Learning Outcomes
Week 4: Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way
September 18: Thoreau, “Walking,” 71-122
September 20: Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier"
“U.S. Expansion and its Consequences,”
Oxford Handbook of American Indian History
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Week 5: John Muir
September 25: John Muir, Essential Muir, 3-83
Discuss Podcast Assignment
September 27: John Muir, Essential Muir, 87-126
“Environmentalism’s Racist History”
Podcast Topics & Preference Forms Due
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Weeks 6-8: Preservation and Conservation Podcasts
September 25: Discuss Podcast Assignment
September 27: Topic & Group Preference Forms Due
October 2: Kline, First Along the River
Discuss Conservation and Preservation
Discuss Research and Scholarly Sources
October 4: Brief Proposals Due; Project Group Meetings
October 9: Introduction to Podcasting with Brianna Derr
October 11: No Class: Fall Break
October 16: Work-in-Progress Presentations to get ideas from the class
October 18: Draft Workshops
October 20: Projects Due
Week 9: Hurricane Katrina and Environmental Justice
TBD: Film Screening of Spike Lee, When the Levees Broke, Part I
October 23: Natasha Trethewey, Beyond Katrina, 1-70
October 25: Natasha Trethewey, Beyond Katrina, 71-123
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Week 10: Oil and Climate Change
October 30: Stephanie LeMenager, Living Oil: Petroleum Culture, 3-19, 102-141.
November 1: “Oil Stories” by Tim Gautreaux, Joanna Kavenna, and Mohammed Hasan Alwan
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Week 11: Standing Rock
November 6: Estes and Dhillon, Standing with Standing Rock, selections.
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Week 11-15: Final Projects​: Digital Essays for environmentaldestruction.org
November 6: Go over assignment and strategies for successful digital essays.
November 8: Group Meetings: Go over research and framing ideas
November 13: Group Meetings: Go over proposals
November 15: Narrative Workshop: Pitch your ideas to the class
November 20: Tech Workshop: How to use Adobe Rush
November 22: No Class; Thanksgiving Break
November 27: Script Workshop: Go over your drafts
November 29: Group Meetings: Go over final questions
December 4: Draft Workshop
December 6: Conclusions & Evaluations
December 11: Projects Due
December 12: Reflective Writing Due
