Ecological Imaginings

Professor: Anne Dalke
Institution: Bryn Mawr College
Course Number: English and Gender Studies

“Once we lose our fear of being tiny, we find ourselves on the threshold of a vast and awesome universe which dwarfs—in time, in space, and in potential—the tidy anthropocentric proscenium of our ancestors.” (Carl Sagan).

We will make our own weekly observations of the world in which we live, work and imagine, seeking a variety of ways of expressing our ecological interests. We will also read classical and cutting edge ecolinguistic, ecofeminist, ecocritical and ecoesthetic theory, along with a range of exploratory, speculative, and imaginative essays and stories. Please buy, borrow, read on reserve, or make arrangements to share three book-length texts: J.M. Coetzee’s The Lives of Animals (1999),  Amitav Ghosh’s The Hungry Tide (2005), and Terry Tempest Williams’ An Unspoken Hunger: Stories from the Field (1994). The remainder of our readings and viewings (including 10 Rules for Students, Teachers, and Life) are available either in our password-protected site or on the internet.

Full syllabus, class notes and on-line conversation:
https://serendip.brynmawr.edu/oneworld/ecological-imaginings-2015/sylla-ship-ecological-imaginings-spring-2015