2023-2024 Academic Catalog

Jun 22, 2024

2023-2024 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

CRW 202 - Imagining Place: Writing Health, Science and the Environment

An in-depth introduction to narrative writing with a focus upon environmental science, social justice and public health. This Problems of Practice (PoP) course is a project-based experience in which students work as a team to investigate and respond to an engaging and complex question, problem, or challenge. Our real-world environmental justice project concerns a 35-year-old environmental/toxic waste disaster that continues to negatively impact the health and wellbeing of a rural disenfranchised population in Holden, Missouri. This case is representative of other sites across the country as closed, so-called “cleaned up” environmental sites often continue to impact human health. Using this case study as a springboard, students learn how to write clearly and persuasively about current environmental, public health, and social justice issues-a vital skill in today’s world. In this class, we produce four pieces of narrative, and in the process discover how the writing voice acquires authority built on documentation and research. We will explore the history of nature writing and look at writing as action in the age of climate change. Using multidisciplinary frameworks, we will reconsider our position in relation to the natural world and our current epoch.

May be repeated twice for credit.

Formerly ENG 202. Students who have already passed ENG 202 cannot receive credit for CRW 202 and should not take this course.

Course Designation/Attribute: POP, VE

Anticipated Terms Offered: Annually