When describing environmental degradation, scholars frequently position the human as a geological or atmospheric force. This way of thinking often takes for granted a particular definition of the human and a particular understanding of human history. This class will ask what we think we know about the human, and where these ideas come from. We will consider how the relationship between philosophy, natural science, and environmental justice developed and ask how and where scientific and humanistic practices of problem-solving get stuck when it comes to questions of anti-blackness and environmental racism. We will read N.K. Jemisin’s climate fiction novel, The Fifth Season, and scholar Zakiyyah Iman Jackson’s recent book Becoming Human: Matter and Meaning in an Antiblack World. In a seminar style environment involving close readings, discussions, and guest lectures we will consider how these authors question some of the assumptions common to environmentalist and Environmental Humanities discourses.
- Instructor of record: Anastasia Baginski