Important notice
The course guide is provisional.
The PDF version of the course guide may take a few days to become available in the DDD.
Environmental Ethics in Literary Culture
Code: 45367Credits: 5
| Degree programme | Type | Course |
|---|---|---|
| English Studies: Linguistic, Literary and Sociocultural Perspectives | OP | 1 |
Contact lecturer
- Name :
- Laura Gimeno Pahissa
- Email :
- laura.gimeno@uab.cat
Teaching staff
- Nicholas Livingston Spengler
Group languages
You can consult this information at the end of the document.
Prerequisites
-Predisposition and interest in reading literary texts in English
-Knowledge and previous readings of literature in English
Objectives
How do we define the relation between human and nonhuman beings? What is our ethical responsibility towards nonhuman as well as human others? These questions might seem especially timely in our world today, but they have been posed in literary culture for centuries.
The texts chosen in this subject will invite students to consider the environment not just as a "natural" space but also as a complex field where human and nonhuman interact. The subject offers a range of ecocritical approaches to American literary culture.
On completion of this subject, students will be able to demonstrate a good understanding of literary texts in English and of the ethical and environmental questions that emerge from them; to generate literary criticism through weekly commentaries and two essays; and to use bibliographical resources related to the material studied.
Learning outcomes
- CA16 (Formulate research proposals that demonstrate how literary texts can be used as creative elements to tackle social and ecological challenges.) Formulate research proposals that demonstrate how literary texts can be used as creative elements to tackle social and ecological challenges.
- CA17 (Independently develop academic and professional proposals that apply the most suitable and innovative approaches to the study of eco-criticism in English literature.) Independently develop academic and professional proposals that apply the most suitable and innovative approaches to the study of eco-criticism in English literature.
- KA17 (Define the relationship between the human and the non-human, as well as the ethical issues involved in this relationship, as represented in literary texts.) Define the relationship between the human and the non-human, as well as the ethical issues involved in this relationship, as represented in literary texts.
- KA18 (Identify the various eco-critical and ethical approaches to English literature.) Identify the various eco-critical and ethical approaches to English literature.
- SA23 (Apply ecocriticism to the analysis and interpretation of literary texts of different genres.) Apply ecocriticism to the analysis and interpretation of literary texts of different genres.
- SA24 (Analyse the relationship between the human and the non-human based on various literary proposals.) Analyse the relationship between the human and the non-human based on various literary proposals.
- SA25 (Demonstrate how the environment is related to the intersection between class, ethnicity, gender, and national origin in the formation of social identities based on an eco-critical and ethical approach) Demonstrate how the environment is related to the intersection between class, ethnicity, gender, and national origin in the formation of social identities based on an eco-critical and ethical approach
- SA26 (Write creative and critical texts based on a cultural exploration of the relationship between the human and the non-human.) Write creative and critical texts based on a cultural exploration of the relationship between the human and the non-human.
Contents
PART 1: “Green” Ecopoetics in American Literature
1. Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Nature”
2. Henry David Thoreau: Walden*
3. Walt Whitman (part 1 - green): selection of poems
PART 2: “Blue” Ecopoetics in American Literature
4. Walt Whitman (part 2 – Blue): selection of poems
5. Emily Dickinson: selection of poems
6. Herman Melville: Moby Dick*
7. Elizabeth Bishop: selection of poems
Students must buy a copy of the two books marked with an asterisk (Walden and Moby Dick). The Penguin or Oxford World Classics editions are recommended.
Learning activities and methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Attendance, Participation | 30 | 1.2 | |
| Oral Commentaries, Tutorials | 5 | 0.2 | |
| Reading and Studying | 55 | 2.2 |
This subject is based on the exchange of ideas between the teachers and students, as well as among the students themselves. This will necessitate a high level of preparation and active participation from everyone. Additionally, students will be expected to submit written commentaries in advance of each class and to defend and debate their ideas during class (oral commentaries).
In addition to mandatory attendance, it is assumed that students have thoroughly read both the primary and secondary materials. This course primarily focuses on literary culture, but it also requires a commitment to developing a theoretical and philosophical understanding of environmental ethics.
All information regarding primary and secondary readings will be published on the Virtual Campus.
Assessment
Continuous assessment activities
| Title | Weight | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay 1 | 40 | 15 | 0.6 | CA16, CA17, KA17, KA18, SA23, SA24, SA25, SA26 |
| Essay 2 | 40 | 15 | 0.6 | CA16, CA17, KA17, KA18, SA23, SA24, SA25, SA26 |
| Commentaries | 20 | 5 | 0.2 | CA16, CA17, KA17, KA18, SA23, SA24, SA25, SA26 |
1) CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT IS BASED ON:
- Essay 1 (in class): 40%
- Group work portfolio/1: 10%
- Essay 2 (in class): 40%
- Group work portfolio/2: 10%
PLEASE, NOTE:
- All the exercises are compulsory.
- Students will obtain a not assessed/not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30 % of the assessment items.
- On carrying out each assessment activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
- Access to continuous-assessment reassessment requires the student to have been assessed previously in activities worth at least two-thirds of the total continuous-assessment grade.
2) SINGLE ASSESSMENT
THE PROCEDURE FOR SINGLE ASSESSMENT IS BASED ON:
- 3 Evaluated items to be done in a single in-class exam:
- Item 1: Integrating critical sources into a literary commentary (30%)
- Item 2: Writing a critical essay (45%)
- Item 3: Oral Presentation (25%)
REASSESSMENT:
- Students choosing single assessment must complete all three scheduled activities before they can access reassessment.
- Re-assessment for this subject requires a content-synthesis test for each module component.
- Component 3 is not eligible for re-assessment.
VERY IMPORTANT: Students must learn to respect the intellectual property of others, identifying any source they may use, and take responsibility for the originality and authenticity of the texts they produce.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Irregularities refer, for instance, to copying in an exam, copying from sources without indicating authorship, or a misuse of AI such as presenting work as original that has been generated by an AI tool or programme. These evaluation activities will not be re-assessed.
Important note for exchange students (Erasmus, etc.) on exams and other tests
Erasmus students who request to bring forward an exam or any other type of assessment activity must present the teacher with an official document from their home university justifying their request.
Use of AI
This subject allows the use of AI technologies exclusively for support tasks such as bibliographic or content-based searches.
The student must clearly (i) specify the tools used and how they were used; and (ii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and final outcome of the activity.
Using AI to generate or correct academic writing is strictly prohibited.
Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awarded a zero.
In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
Bibliography
REQUIRED READINGS
PART 1: “Green” Ecopoetics in American Literature
1. Ralph Waldo Emerson: “Nature”
2. Henry David Thoreau: Walden*
3. Walt Whitman (part 1 - green): selection of poems
PART 2: “Blue” Ecopoetics in American Literature
4. Walt Whitman (part 2 – Blue): selection of poems
5. Emily Dickinson: selection of poems
6. Herman Melville: Moby Dick*
7. Elizabeth Bishop: selection of poems
Students must buy a copy of the two books marked with an asterisk (Walden and Moby Dick). The Penguin or Oxford World Classics editions are recommended.
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY:
(Further specialized bibliography for each work will be provided throughout the semester).
Bennett, Jane. Vibrant Matter : A Political Ecology of Things. Duke University Press, 2010.
Buell, Lawrence. Writing for an Endangered World : Literature, Culture, and Environment in the U.S. and Beyond. 1st ed., Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2001, https://doi.org/10.4159/9780674029057.
Burke, Edmund. A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1958.
Cafaro, Philip. Thoreau’s Living Ethics: Walden and the Pursuit of Virtue. 1st ed., University of Georgia Press, 2010.
Chow, Juliana. Nineteenth-Century American Literature and the Discourse of Natural History. 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108990660.
Clark, Timothy. The Cambridge Introduction to Literature and the Environment. 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2011, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511976261.
Derrida, Jacques, and Marie-Louise Mallet. Derrida, Jacques. Animal Que Donc Je Suis. English/The Animal That Therefore I Am. 1st ed., Fordham University Press, 2008.
Dimick, Sarah. “Disordered Environmental Time: Phenology, Climate Change, and Seasonal Form in the Work of Henry David Thoreau and Aldo Leopold.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 25, no. 4, December 2018, pp. 700–21, https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/isy053.
Edwards, Justin D., et al., editors. Dark Scenes from Damaged Earth : The Gothic Anthropocene. University of Minnesota Press, 2022.
Ford, M. “Elizabeth Bishop at the Water’s Edge.” Essays in Criticism, vol. 53, no. 3, July 2003, pp. 235–61, https://doi.org/10.1093/eic/53.3.235.
Friesner, Nicholas. “A Transcendentalist Nature Religion.” Religions (Basel, Switzerland) [Basel], vol. 8, no. 8, August 2017, p. 130, https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8080130.
Glissant, Édouard. Poetics of Relation. Translated by Betsy Wing. University of Michigan Press, 1997.
Glotfelty, Cheryll, and Harold Fromm. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. University of Georgia Press, 1996.
Iovino, Serenella, and Serpil Oppermann, editors. Material Ecocriticism. Indiana University Press, 2014.
Jonik, Michael. Herman Melville and the Politics of the Inhuman. 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108355667.
Killingsworth, M. Jimmie. Walt Whitman and the Earth: A Study of Ecopoetics. 1st ed., University of Iowa Press, 2009.
Liebermann, Yvonne, et al. Nonhuman Agencies in the Twenty-First-Century Anglophone Novel. Edited by Yvonne Liebermann et al., 1st ed., Springer International Publishing AG, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79442-2.
Morton, Timothy. Dark Ecology : For a Logic of Future Coexistence. Columbia University Press, 2016.
Morton, Timothy. “Here Comes Everything: The Promise of Object-Oriented Ontology.” Qui Parle, vol. 19, no. 2, 2011, pp. 163–90, https://doi.org/10.5250/quiparle.19.2.0163.
Morton, Timothy, and Timothy Morton. “The Mesh.” Environmental Criticism for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Stephanie LeMenager et al., 1st ed., Routledge, 2011, pp. 19–30, https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203814918-3.
Newman, Lance. Our Common Dwelling : Henry Thoreau, Transcendentalism, and the Class Politics of Nature. 1st ed. 2005., Palgrave Macmillan, 2005, https://doi.org/10.1057/9781403973535.
Parham, John, and Louise Hutchings Westling. A Global History of Literature and the Environment. Edited by John Parham and Louise Westling, 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2016, https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316212578.
Soper, Kate. "The Idea of Nature." The Green Studies Reader: From Romanticism to Ecocriticism, edited by Laurence Coupe. Routledge, 2000.
Spengler, Nicholas. "Of Squalls and Mutinies: Emergency Politics and Black Democracy in Moby-Dick and 'The Heroic Slave'". Textual Practice, 35.11 (2021), 1815-1834.
Van Cromphout, Gustaaf. Emerson’s Ethics. 1st ed., University of Missouri Press, 1999.
Weinstein, Josh A. “Humility, from the Ground Up: A Radical Approach to Literature and Ecology.” Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, vol. 22, no. 4, December 2015, pp. 759–77, https://doi.org/10.1093/isle/isv048.
Software
N/A
Course groups and languages
The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE
| Type of teaching | Group | Language | Semester | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TEm) Theory (master) | 1 | English | second semester | morning-mixed |