COLT 70.05 Environmental Imagination: Ecological Narratives for the Anthropocene
How do literature and the visual arts represent natural environments, and what can they teach us about the complex relationships between humanity and nature? In this class, we will engage with the Environmental Humanities, an interdisciplinary field that aims to challenge the conventional separation between the cultural and natural domains and foster a dialogue with other fields of study that question human-centered and Western-centric viewpoints. The class will be organized as a student-led seminar integrated with brief lectures. Each week will be dedicated to the exploration of a key term, such as “energy”, “time”, and “communication.” This will guide us in a critical analysis of poetry, short stories, feature and documentary films, photography, and paintings that engage with topics including environmental justice, climate change, eco-feminism, and plant and animal extinction. Therefore, by the end of the term, we will have compiled a “lexicon” that will help us challenge our preconceived ideas of nature and force us to expand our environmental imagination.
Instructor
Gilebbi