Environmental Humanities Concentration

Environmental Humanities Concentration Overview

Environmental Humanities Concentration

The field of the environmental humanities explores the role of culture, value, and meaning in shaping the human relationship to the environment. Drawing on perspectives from literature, history, philosophy, visual culture, and digital media, the concentration foregrounds the importance of humanities disciplines to understanding and responding to the climate crisis, and related challenges facing a planet under duress. Courses examine the systems of knowledge that orient humans to the environment-considering, as examples, topics such as wilderness, waste, animals, and extinction–while also investigating broader intersections with colonial histories, constructions of self and identity, and transnational politics and culture. With a decided focus on narrative and storytelling, the humanities offer a means to imagine and cultivate more ethical relationships both with the nonhuman world and within human communities themselves. Students in all fields are welcome and may find the concentration to be a valuable supplement to their studies.

Environmental Humanities Concentration Requirements

The Environmental Humanities Concentration Requires five courses/units.

Two required core courses:

CMLT 125 - Intro To Environmental Humanities  

ENG 126 - Ecofictions: Literature and Environment  

Three electives (with at least two at the 200-level):

ARTS 162 - Exploring the Natural World: Seeding Artistic Process with Drawing and Mixed Media  

CMLT 136 - Afrofuturism and Social Justice  

CMLT 180 - Decolonial Ecology in the Caribbean  

ENG 102 - From Cli-Fi to Frankenstein: Reading and Writing Climate Narrative  

ENG 126 - Ecofictions: Literature and Environment  

ENG 223 - Cultures of Energy: Nature, Power, Aesthetics  

ENG 275 - Fictions of Empire: Studies in Global English Literature  

GEOG 017 - Environment and Society  

GEOG 020 - American Cities: Changing Spaces, Community Places  

GEOG 090 - Native Americans, Land and Natural Resources  

HGS 250 - Anthropology of War and Genocide  

ID 072 - Navigating the Climate Crisis  

ID 109 - Climate and Conflict: Understanding Violence in the Anthropocene  

ID 220 - Critical Pedagogy for Social and Environmental Justice: Liberal Arts Education in Practice  

MCA 119 - Soundscapes & Acoustic Ecology  

Environmental Humanities Concentration Faculty

Co-Directors: 

Christina Gerhardt (Leir Chair, Comparative Literature, Language, Literature and Culture); 

Stephen Levin (English)

Core Faculty: 

Matt Malsky (Higgins and V&PA). 

Nathan Braccio (History); 

Odile Ferly (Language Literature and Culture/French & Francophone Studies);

Nana Kesse (History) 

Max Ritts (Geography)