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Ecocriticism
DozentIn: Dr. phil. Anja Höing, M.Ed.
Veranstaltungstyp: Seminar
Ort: nicht angegeben
Zeiten: Fr. 10:00 - 12:00 (wöchentlich)
Beschreibung: This is a V1 Cultural Studies course also open as the "literary and cultural studies" part of the I-Module
Ecocriticism, the theoretical approach to “the relationship between literature and the physical environment” (Glotfelty xviii), has become both the academic voice of environmental movements, including climate activism, and a scholarly discipline in its own right, combining interdisciplinary approaches from fields as diverse as philosophy, cultural studies, literary criticism, and biology – and even politics. Primarily concerned with the representation of all things non-human in contemporary (but also historical) cultural contexts, Ecocriticism offers itself particularly well as a theoretical framework to approach representations of natural settings or protagonists in all kinds of cultural productions.
In this seminar, we will approach this profoundly diverse (and openly political) theoretical school of thoughts from its theoretical roots. Based on readings of key texts of ecocritical theory, we will trace major streams in ecocriticsm, as well as its close ties to related fields of cultural studies such as posthumanism and animal studies.
Students will be required to
- read extensive and theoretically challenging texts in preparation for each session
- join an expert group on one subfield of ecocritical theory, and to prepare a group presentation (including a PowerPoint and a handout) outlining this theory to their fellow students
- participate actively and regularly, both in the sessions and in the course Wiki
- write a term paper (details on requirements will be announced in the first session)
Reading materials for each session are either accessible in the University Library or will be made available on Stud.IP. Further material will be distributed in class and/ or made available online. Check Stud-IP for updates, announcements, and changes!
In this course, term papers will be due on August 31, 2020. In all likelihood, I will not be able to offer deadline extensions.
