Global Environmental Literature

The title of the course suggests two important themes that will orient our discussions and readings: First, how does literature reflect and represent the super/natural world? Second, how do those representations differ across cultures and geographies? What does that tell us about human relationships to the world around us, as well as how heterogenous those relationships can be? This course will feature materials from what we might know today as “the global south” (though not exclusively) to initiate conversations about how power, oppression, and consumption affect those earlier mentioned relationships and representations. We will not only learn to shift awareness to environmental concerns in literature but also learn theories and approaches to facilitate that shift. Broadly speaking this course introduces students to the methodology of ecocriticism, or the study of ecoliterature, but also to intersectionality, where race, class, gender, and place can affect one another and manifest in literature. Readings will include Amitov Ghosh, Jamaica Kincaid, Nguyen Ngoc Tu, Jiang Rong, and Edouard Glissant.