Course Description:
Thematic: What does it mean to treat animals or the environment “ethically”? How are notions of what is or is not “ethical” constructed and agreed upon? What do histories of settler colonialism, racial slavery, and other forms of difference-based oppression have to do with the ecological crises of our day? This course introduces students to a handful of key texts exploring questions around animal sentience, the consumption of nonhuman life forms, and the interconnectedness of different kinds of life through an ecofeminist lens. Bringing together non-fiction essays, philosophy, film, and a very small touch of the natural sciences, the course will emphasize the conceptual as well as the rhetorical structures of the readings while prodding students to examine their assumptions about “Others” (human and nonhuman) and what an ethical relationship or responsibility to Others entails.
Structural: This course will train undergraduates to navigate academic reading and writing in ways that will enhance their ability to participate in intellectual communities at Bryn Mawr and beyond. Rather than approaching essay writing as an innate talent (it is not!), this course will teach writing as a learned skill that can be developed. Students will practice writing as a way of thinking. The course frames the writing process around the continual refinement of ideas and persuasive expression, and it introduces students to strategies for generating, drafting, and revising longer essays. We will pay special attention to brainstorming/planning, close reading, rhetorical analysis, collaboration, and revision. Students will also practice thinking, talking, and asking questions aloud in a small seminar setting. Multiple peer review workshops and four one-on-one conferences throughout the semester will support the student in developing a firm grasp of the writing process at the university level.
Thematic: What does it mean to treat animals or the environment “ethically”? How are notions of what is or is not “ethical” constructed and agreed upon? What do histories of settler colonialism, racial slavery, and other forms of difference-based oppression have to do with the ecological crises of our day? This course introduces students to a handful of key texts exploring questions around animal sentience, the consumption of nonhuman life forms, and the interconnectedness of different kinds of life through an ecofeminist lens. Bringing together non-fiction essays, philosophy, film, and a very small touch of the natural sciences, the course will emphasize the conceptual as well as the rhetorical structures of the readings while prodding students to examine their assumptions about “Others” (human and nonhuman) and what an ethical relationship or responsibility to Others entails.
Structural: This course will train undergraduates to navigate academic reading and writing in ways that will enhance their ability to participate in intellectual communities at Bryn Mawr and beyond. Rather than approaching essay writing as an innate talent (it is not!), this course will teach writing as a learned skill that can be developed. Students will practice writing as a way of thinking. The course frames the writing process around the continual refinement of ideas and persuasive expression, and it introduces students to strategies for generating, drafting, and revising longer essays. We will pay special attention to brainstorming/planning, close reading, rhetorical analysis, collaboration, and revision. Students will also practice thinking, talking, and asking questions aloud in a small seminar setting. Multiple peer review workshops and four one-on-one conferences throughout the semester will support the student in developing a firm grasp of the writing process at the university level.
- Instructor of record: Alex Alston