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.”
“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
Additional readings are posted on Canvas.
Assignments
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Participation (20%)
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Keyword Presentation (10%)
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Podcast (10%)
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Critical Response (20%)
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Final Project: (40%)
Assignment details are linked to each title.
Course Schedule and Classrooms:
Section A: TR 12:45-2, Room 1505, Wake Downtown
Section B: TR 2:15-3:30, Room 1505, Wake Downtown
A brief note on learning in the present moment:
We’re all working in the midst of a prolonged state of emergency, I understand that. This is a time for empathy, this is a time for flexibility, and my goal is not to police your learning but to create the best environment I can for enabling you to learn. If you find that you are in crisis, I will work with you.
I ask, in turn, that you be aware of the very real possibility that we may have to shift to online learning. If that is the way things develop I'm prepared to pivot, and we'll meet as a full class on Tuesdays but in discussion or project groups on Thursdays.
For the time being, however, we'll be in person without masks.
Schedule of Readings and Assignments
Weeks 1 & 2: Introductions & Ralph Waldo Emerson
August 23: In class: Introductions
In class: Syllabus and Assignments
August 25: Emerson, Nature, excerpts
August 30: Emerson, Nature, excerpts
Emerson, "The Young American," excerpts
Emerson; Natural History of the Intellect, excerpts
"Giving Emerson the Boot"
Weeks 2 & 3: Henry David Thoreau
September 1: Reading Day
September 6: Thoreau, Walden, “Economy," “Where I Lived"
September 8: Thoreau, Walden, “Higher Laws, “Conclusion”
See Course Policies and Campus Resources here.
Week 4: Westward the Course of Empire Takes its Way
September 13: Thoreau, “Walking,” 71-122
September 15: Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier"
“U.S. Expansion and its Consequences,”
Oxford Handbook of American Indian History
Week 5: John Muir
September 20: John Muir, Essential Muir, 3-83
Discuss Podcast Assignment
September 22: John Muir, Essential Muir, 87-126
“Environmentalism’s Racist History”
Podcast Topics & Preference Forms Due
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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
Weeks 6-8: Preservation and Conservation Podcasts
September 20: Discuss Podcast Assignment
September 22: Topic & Group Preference Forms Due
September 27: Kline, First Along the River
Discuss Conservation and Preservation
Discuss Research and Scholarly Sources
September 29: Brief Proposals Due; Project Group Meetings
October 4: Introduction to Podcasting with Brianna Derr
October 6: Work-in-Progress Presentations to get ideas from the class
October 11; Draft Workshops
October 13: No Class: Fall Break
October 16: Projects Due
Week 9: Hurricane Katrina and Environmental Justice
TBD: Film Screening of Spike Lee, When the Levees Broke, Part I
October 18: Natasha Trethewey, Beyond Katrina, 1-70
October 20: Natasha Trethewey, Beyond Katrina, 71-123
Week 10: Oil and Climate Change
October 25: Stephanie LeMenager, Living Oil: Petroleum Culture, 3-19, 102-141.
October 27: “Oil Stories” by Tim Gautreaux, Joanna Kavenna, and Mohammed Hasan Alwan
Week 11: Standing Rock
November 1: Estes and Dhillon, Standing with Standing Rock, selections.
Week 11-15: Final Projects: Digital Essays for environmentaldestruction.org
November 1: Go over assignment and strategies for successful digital essays.
November 3: Group Meetings: Go over research and framing ideas
November 8: Group Meetings: Go over proposals
November 10: Narrative Workshop: Pitch your ideas to the class
November 15: Tech Workshop: How to use Adobe Rush
November 17: Script Workshop: Go over your drafts
November 22: Group Meetings: Go over final questions
November 24: No Class; Thanksgiving Break
November 29: Draft Workshop
December 1: Conclusions & Evaluations
December 8: Projects Due
December 10: Reflective Writing Due
