Spring 2021: Imagining Environmental Justice

ENGL-200-309/ COML 308 / ANTH 339

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 9:00am-10:30am
Status: Remote with synchronous sessions

“Let us make no mistake: the climate crisis is also a

crisis of culture, and thus of the imagination”
- Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement (2016)

Across novels, film, nonfiction and poetry, what does environmental

justice look like in a world where the effects of colonialism and climate
change are unevenly distributed?

This course asks students to reflect on narratives that engage in different ways with the question of justice,
attending to the ways that environmental crisis intersects with race, gender and sexuality. Engagement with
texts by Indigenous North American, African American, Palestinian, and South African writers and creators will
highlight diverse ways of relating to land, water and nonhuman animals that challenge capitalist and colonial
logics of extraction. Primary texts include fictional works by a range of authors, such as Linda Hogan, JM Coetzee,
Stephen Graham Jones, Paolo Bacigalupi, and Jesmyn Ward, as well as poetry, film, and examples of
experimental art. Ultimately, through critical and creative modes of enquiry, we will strive to understand how
artistic and creative expression might enable us to imagine more equitable futures. The class will enable
participants to translate themes and ideas into practice by producing public-facing content through creative
modes of enquiry, resulting in a co-curated online exhibition.

- This course will be conducted online. We will meet in synchronous Zoom sessions during the scheduled
class time each week (Tuesdays, 9:00am-10:30am Philadelphia time), and students will be asked to
complete a number of asynchronous assignments on Canvas, including: reading reflections, short writing
assignments, listening to and watching streaming recordings, and collaborative peer review.
- While students should plan to make progress on reading and writing assignments throughout the week,
all work is due to Canvas by 6pm Philadelphia time on the night before our scheduled class time each
week. Students who are not available to join synchronous Zoom sessions will be asked to complete
alternative assignments asynchronously.
- Required materials include three books (available for purchase) and other materials which will be
available as downloadable PDFs on our Canvas site.
- Students will be assessed according to the completion of one midterm written assignment (30%),
participation in discussions (20%) and weekly responses (20%), and their individually or collaboratively
produced contribution to a co-created online exhibit (30%).
This course counts toward the Environmental Humanities Minor and the Native American and Indigenous
Studies Minor.

Instructor: Dr Rebecca Macklin, director@ppehlab.org