ENVI 217 - Environmental isms: Theory and Method in the Environmental Humanities

Institution:

Williams College

Subject:

Environmental Studies

Description:

How does culture shape our use and imagination of the physical environment? This is the central question of the environmental humanities. This course will explore the various ways in which scholars from a broad range of disciplines have sought to answer this question by incorporating insights from social theory and cultural criticism. Focusing on studies of social and cultural conflict in the United States and Latin America from the time of European colonization to the present, it will examine key works from fields such as environmental history, ecocriticism, environmental ethics, and cultural geography, and it will survey the major methodological and philosophical commitments that unite these fields. Emphasis will be placed on the ideological critique of modernity. How have scholars made environmental sense of liberalism, capitalism, nationalism, colonialism, imperialism, sexism, and racism? How have these isms influenced our relations with the natural world, and how can the humanities help us both understand and change these relations for the better? With its emphasis on the critical theorization of inequality and cross-cultural interaction, this course fulfils the Exploring Diversity requirement.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Environmental Studies 101 or permission of instructor

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.williams.edu

Phone Number:

(413) 597-3131

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Four-one-four plan

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