Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

Explores the cross-cultural trajectory of a genre or genres of world literature. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

Topic - Ecocriticism: World Literature & Global Ecology

This introductory course acquaints students with the increasingly essential field of ecocriticism, the study of the ways in which nature is represented in art & thought.  Aimed at students from an array of disciplinary backgrounds, & drawing its primary materials from global fiction, film, & visual art, this interdisciplinary course explores human understandings of nature across historical & cultural boundaries.

Our first task will be to see how Ecocriticism differs from Environmental Criticism – how humans imagine nature in literature and culture, as opposed to the actual fallouts of environmental degradation (including the role that cultural understandings play in this process).  Starting with the key issues and investigative paths set out in the essays in our textbook, our course materials range from the state of nature in a 17th Century South American Colony (Oroonoko), to humans escaping to an abandoned African game park (Tuner of Silences).  En route, we also read about a troubled island paradise in the Dutch East Indies (Ten Thousand Things), & environmental strife in China during the Cultural Revolution (The King of Trees).  Foremost among the ecocritical models engaged in our short readings will be the notion of the “performativity” of the natural scene – the ways in which cultural & personal responses to environments are shaped by the places we inhabit. 

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

• Understanding of World Literature as a field practice
• Basic comprehension of ecocritical terms and concepts
• Ability to understand and compare cultural representations of nature
• Beginning ability to analyze natural settings as social discourses

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING: