ENG 346 - Urban Nature Writing

Institution:

Antioch University-System Administration

Subject:

Description:

Confronting what most would consider an intractable contradiction, urban nature, the urban nature writer presses hard at the boundaries of our standard definitions of nature, particularly as it occurs in our cities. Through a series of urban walks, selected readings in urban ecocriticism, and close readings of the works of contemporary urban nature writers, students develop their own grammar and vocabulary for describing the urban ecosystem. The theory of hierarchical patch dynamics serves as a metaphorical overlay and template for seeing and describing the social, political, economic, and physical (those that are built and those that occur on their own) systems as they interact with and affect one another. Students discuss the key concepts of material and energy flows through various types of ecosystems, as a way of getting at some of the unintended consequences of radically altering those flows in the ways that urban ecosystems require. Students write essays based on the walks through which they acquire a sharpened gaze that moves easily between particular and universal, background and foreground. COMMUNICATIONS DOMAIN

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.antioch.edu

Phone Number:

(937) 769-1372

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

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