Environmental Studies 215
Nature’s Meanings: The American
Experience—Spring 2010
Prof. Kathryn Morse, x2436
http://community.middlebury.edu/~kmorse
Office Hours, Spring 2010
Mondays 1-4 pm,
Wednesdays 1-4 pm,
*****and by appointment****
Course Meeting Times:
Mon/Wed 10:10-11:00, The Orchard,
Thurs. Disc W:
1:55-2:45,
Thurs. Disc. X: 3:00-3:50,
Fri. Disc. Y: 10:10-11:00, Ross Commons Seminar Room B11
Fri. Disc Z: 11:15-12:05, Hepburn Seminar Room
For citation systems, specifically MLA citation style and
Turabian footnote guides, see:
http://subsplus.middlebury.edu/subsplus/subjects/display.php?subject=style
http://www.libs.uga.edu/ref/turabian.html
http://www.library.georgetown.edu/guides/turabianfoot/#foot
Description & Goals
Nature's Meanings is a core course in the
Environmental Studies major. It is designed to introduce all
students, but particularly Environmental
Studies majors, to the study of the human relationship to nature in
American culture through the humanities.
In doing so, it complements the three other core courses required of
E.S. majors, which introduce students to that study through the social sciences
(E.S. 211) and the natural sciences (E.S. 112), as well as spatial analysis
(GEOG 320). Nature’s Meanings is
centered on close analysis of primary sources and scholarly works which present
diverse ideas about nature in American culture. It is an interdisciplinary course, which attempts to integrate
history, religion, philosophy, and literature. Students are expected to
engage and develop their critical reading, thinking, listening, discussion,
oral presentation, and writing skills through class readings, lectures,
discussions, examinations, and papers.
Required work in ENVS 215:
Students must complete all required written work (2 papers
and 2 exams) in order to pass the course.
All required work is detailed below:
1) Assigned readings, as detailed in this syllabus. These are subject to change. Listen for announcements in class and PLEASE
CHECK YOUR EMAIL .
2) Active and engaged participation in discussion sections on
Thursdays/Fridays.
3) Two essays on assigned topics, with details to be handed
out ahead of time according to the class schedule. These are due Wednesday March 3 at 5 pm by
email and Wednesday April 21 at 5 pm by email.
4) One in-class, 50-minute written exam (Wed. March 17, in class); and one three-hour final exam (scheduled for Thurs May 13, 9am-12pm).
5) Two films The Garden and Grizzly Man, with scheduled screenings as announced below. You may also watch these films in the library, as both DVDs will be on reserve.
Books and Other
Bill McKibben, ed., American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau (2008)
Henry David Thoreau, A Year in Thoreau’s Journal: 1851 (Penguin 1993).
Susan Schrepfer, Nature’s Altars: Mountains, Gender, and American Environmentalism (2005)
Michael Harkin and David Rich Lewis, eds., Native Americans and the Environment: Perspectives on the Ecological Indian (2007)
Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild (1996)
Course Policies
1) Honor Code: The honor code is in effect for all
work in this class, and should be stated and signed on all formal
written work (papers and exams).
2) Accessibility, Accommodations, Abilities:
We all have varying abilities; we all carry various strengths and
weaknesses. Some of these might even be “documented” with a place like the ADA
Office. If so, please just let me know. With or without
documentation, it is my intent to make our learning experience as accessible as
possible. With documentation, I am especially interested in providing any
student accommodations that have probably been best determined by the student
and the ADA Coordinator (Jodi Litchfield) in advance. Please let me know
NOW what we can do to maximize your learning potential, participation,
and general access in this course. I am available to meet with you in
person or to discuss such things on email.
The ADA Office is located at Meeker House 003. [
Jodi Litchfield, coordinator: 802.443.5936; litchfie@middlebury.edu
http://www.middlebury.edu/academics/lis/help/helpdesk/facilities/services/disability.htm
3) Intercollegiate Athletics and Other Activities: If you are a member of a team or engaged in other campus activities, you may, at various times during the semester, have athletic or other events scheduled during our class times. Although no activity can require that you miss class or other academic events, you may need to choose which activity (class or non-class) you would prefer to attend. Those choices are entirely your own, and I will respect them as valid choices. However, be aware that according to college policy such absences are explained rather than excused. It is your responsibility to inform me of your schedule, what work you will miss, and how and when you intend to make up that work. I do not regularly check sports schedules or know team departure times, so it is your job to present me with that information, well in advance of the absence itself.
4)
Attendance. Attendance is of
course required at all classes. I will
keep track of attendance in Thurs/Fri discussion sections, and failure to
attend class will affect your grade.
5) Grading. As the semester progresses, I will provide
handouts and further information on the criteria for grading of specific
assignments. Final grades in the course
will be determined by a number of contributing factors, including active and
engaged participation in classroom discussion and small-group work, and formal
papers and exams. The general proportions will be, approximately: attendance and discussion: 20%; first paper: 15%; first exam: 20%; second paper: 20%; final exam: 25%.
6) Email Policy.
BEFORE you call or email ANY professor with a specific question
about details of the course, or about anything, ask yourself this important
question: Is there ANY other way to
gain this information or answer this question without asking a professor? If so, use that other method!
That being said: Students are welcome to email me to make an appointment to see me, or to attend to course-related matters. Please be advised that I do not read and answer email constantly or immediately. I will attempt to return your email or call within 24 hours. If you need to communicate with me immediately (i.e. to change or set up a meeting in the very near future), send an email with the “urgent” exclamation point so that I will look at it quickly.
The above does not apply to true emergencies, such as those involving serious illness, personal crisis, or loss. In the event of such an event, I will respond as quickly as possible.
I do assume
that you read your Middlebury college email (at your Midd address or a
forwarded address) at least twice a week.
If you do not read your email with any regularity, please remember to
ask me in class whether I have sent out any information or updates.
7) Office Hours. I have set aside specific office hours to meet with students (see above). HOWEVER, if my office hours do not fit with your schedule it is easy and often more efficient to simply schedule a time with me, either by talking after class or sending an email. Come on by to discuss the course, your work in the course, readings, any questions you may have, your major, or any other topic.
8) Technology in the classroom. Please turn off all cellphones and other personal electronic devices during ALL CLASSES. Although it is now common practice for students to bring and use laptops in class, I ask that you limit laptop use to lecture classes (Mondays and Wednesdays). Unless you are unable to physically take notes on paper, please do not bring laptops to discussion sections on Thursday and Fridays.
9) Classroom behavior. I expect students to treat each other (and me) with courtesy and respect. Although the classroom is open to vigorous and thoughtful debate, and to disagreement on topics under discussion, we all must work to critique each other’s ideas, and not each other as fellow students and scholars. If at any time you feel limited by me or others in your ability to express your ideas openly, please let me know in person or by email.
Finally, unless you are experiencing a physical or
emotional emergency, please do not leave the classroom during our 50 minute
classes once we have begun class. If you
need to leave a specific class early, please let me know at the beginning of
class, and sit near the door so as to minimize the disruption caused by your
departure.
Weekly Schedule of Readings, Classes, and Assignments.
Week One
Monday Feb. 8: Introductions
Wed. Feb. 10: Reading assignment: Skim on-line (web address below) and look at images at the end: Thomas Hariot , “A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia” (1588) (trans. by Richard Hakluyt. Spend 20 minutes skimming over the text, and 10 minutes on the images. Come to class prepared to share one point about what you noticed with regards to 16th century ideas about the “new” and “old” worlds and their inhabitants.
Introduction: http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/hariot/summary.html
Text: http://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/hariot/hariot.html
Thurs/Fri Feb. 11/12: Three readings for discussion read 2 on E-reserve, 1 on the web.
1) E-reserve (2235km). Cotton Mather, selections from The Christian Philosopher (1721).
2) E-reserve (2235 km). Jonathan Edwards, “Spider Letter” (1723).
3) On-line (not E-reserve): Thomas Jefferson, from Notes on the State of Virginia (1781-82)
http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/JefVirg.html
Read: “Front Matter,” “Query 4, Mountains,” “Query 5, Cascades,” and “Query 7, Climate.” Feel free to skim more if you wish!
Week Two
Monday Feb. 15: Read: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature (1836), four sections, “Introduction,” “Nature,” “Beauty,” and “Language,” online at:
http://www.emersoncentral.com/nature.htm
Wed. Feb. 17: Emerson, Nature, continued (you may want to read it again—it’s a difficult text).
Thurs/Fri Feb. 18/19: Henry David Thoreau, A Year in Thoreau’s Journal: 1851, January-June (and more if you so choose).
Week Three
Mon. Feb. 22: 1. Rather than plow through another six months of Thoreau's journal from 1851, please read the following:
a) A few brief selections from that journal, on these dates:
August 17, 1851
September 12, 1851
December 25, 1851
December 30-31 1851
b) In the McKibben reader, pp. 26-36, Thoreau's essay "Huckleberries" from 1861.
c) On-line (OR in class handout box on server): Thoreau's 1860 address, "Succession
of Forest Trees" at:
http://thoreau.eserver.org/foresttrees.html
Tuesday Feb. 23: Required film: The Garden,
showing in Starr-Axinn 232, 4:30-6:30.
See www.thegardenmovie.com Film is also on reserve at the Main Library
if you cannot make the public screening.
Wed. Feb. 24: In McKibben, American Earth, George Perkins Marsh, from Man and Nature (1864), pp. 71-80.
Thurs/Fri Feb. 25/26: No discussions, Winter Carnival
Week Four
Mon. March 1: On E-Reserve (2235km) Charles Darwin, “Struggle for Existence” and other brief selections from On the Origin of Species (1859).
Tues. March 2, Recommended lecture by Prof. Jennifer
French, Williams College. "'Out of
History into Nature': Landscape, Labor and Race in Paraguay, 1900-1950'"
4:30 pm, RAJ Seminar Room
Wed. March 3: In
Class: After Darwin. Paper #1 due, 5 pm, by email, details TBA.
Thurs/Fri March 4/5: In McKibben, American Earth, pp. 84-97, John Muir, selection from A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf (1867) and “A Windstorm in the Forests” (1878).
Friday evening lecture, highly recommended: Prof. Alan Kraut, American University: “Fit For America: Immigration, Healthy
Bodies, and the American Environment in the Twentieth Century.” Details TBA.
Week Five
Monday March 8: Read Susan Schrepfer, Nature’s Altars, Introduction and Part One.
Wed March 10: Read Susan Schrepfer, Nature’s Altars, Part Two.
Thurs/Fri Mar 11/12: No discussion sections, read further Muir writings for Monday and review for Exam next Wednesday.
Week Six
Monday March 15: In McKibben, American Earth, pp. 98-112, John Muir, selection from My First Summer in the Sierra, and “Hetch Hetchy Valley” from The Yosemite (1912).
Wednesday March 17: In class exam, details TBA.
Thurs/Fri March 18/19: In McKibben, American Earth three poems: Don Marquis, “What the Ants are Saying” (1935); Robinson Jeffers, “The Answer” (1935); and “Carmel Point” (1953).
SPRING BREAK
Week Seven
Monday March 29: No reading.
Wednesday March 31: In McKibben, American Earth, pp. 146-159, John Burroughs, “The Art of Seeing Things” from Leaf and Tendril (1908); and in McKibben, pp. 266-274, from Aldo Leopold, from A Sand County Almanac, “Marshland Elegy” and “Odyssey.”
Thurs/Fri April 1st and 2d: In McKibben, American Earth, pp. 274-294, Aldo Leopold, from A Sand County Almanac, “Thinking Like a Mountain,” and “The Land Ethic.”
Week Eight
Monday April 5: Read (text emailed and in class handout box), Lauret Savoy, “Alien Land Ethic: The Distance Between,” unpublished ms., 2009.
Wednesday April 7: Read (texts emailed and in class handout box): Four texts total in single .pdf file, all from Camille T. Dungy, ed., Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2009). 1) Richard Wright, from 12 Million Black Voices, pp. 71-73; 2) Melvin Dixon,
"Wood and Rain,: p. 96; 3) Claude McKay, "Joy in the Woods," 97-98. 4) Margaret Walker,"Sorrow Home," p. 99.
Thurs/Fri April 8-9: Read (texts emailed and in class handout box as TWO .pdf files, one for Kincaid and one for the others): 1) Jamaica Kincaid, "The Flowers of Empire," Harper's Magazine, April 1996, 28-41; 2) Yusuf Komunyakaa, "Dark Waters," from Alison H. Deming and Lauret Savoy, eds., The Colors of Nature: Culture, Identity, and the Natural World (Milkweed Editions, 2002), 98-112; 3) Yusuf Komunyakaa, "The Millpond," in Camille T. Dungy, ed., Black Nature: Four Centuries of African American Nature Poetry (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2009), 287-89; 4) David Mas Masumoto, "Belonging on the Land," from Deming and Savoy, The Colors of Nature, 198-208; 5) Anthony Walton, "Carrion," Tara Betts, "For Those Who Need a True Story;" and G.E. Patterson, 'The Natural World;" and all from Dungy, ed., Black Nature, pp. 80-81; 124-25; 153.
Week Nine
Monday April 12: Brief Readings: In McKibben, pp. 337-347, “How Flowers Changed the World,” from The Immense Journey (1957); and pp. 348-349, William O. Douglas, “My Wilderness: The Pacific Northwest” (1960).
Wednesday April 14: In McKibben, American Earth, pp. 473-477, Gary Snyder “Smokey the Bear Sutra” (1969); pp. 504-506, Wendell Berry, “Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front” (1973).
Thurs/Friday April 15/16:
No Discussion Sections, Student Symposium on Friday
Thursday April 15, Guest speaker Lauret Savoy from Mt.
Holyoke College, 4:30, The Orchard (Hillcrest 103).
Friday April 16, Middlebury Student Research Symposium.
Week Ten
Monday April 19: In McKibben, American Earth, pp. 507-530, Wendell Berry, “The Making of a Marginal Farm,” (1981) and “Preserving Wilderness” (1987).
Wednesday April 21:
In class: Lecture. Paper #2 Due, 5 pm, details TBA.
Thurs/Fri April 22/23: Read: In McKibben, pp. 295-311, Berton Roueche, “The Fog” (1950); In McKibben, pp. 327-336, E. B. White, “Sootfall and Fallout” (1956); pp. 365-376, Rachel Carson, from Silent Spring (1962).
Special Thursday Event (recommended): 7 pm, McCullough Social Space, annual Scott
A. Margolin Lecture in Environmental Studies by Prof. John Elder, entitled “Education, Sustainability, and Letting Go.”
Special Friday Event (recommended): Lunchtime panels on panel discussions on the
Arts and Nature and on Environmental Literature, place and time TBA.
Special Saturday Event (recommended): “Letting Go: Dancing With Rivers” features
five dances and readings by colleagues and friends, with live music throughout
beginning at 3 p.m. in the Dance Theatre at the Mahaney Center for the Arts
Dance Theatre.
Week Eleven
Monday April 26: Read: In Harkin and Lewis, eds., Native Americans and the Environment, chapter 1 (Krech) and chapter 2 (Ranco).
Required film: Tues. April 27: Grizzly Man, 7:30, Gifford Lecture Hall. Also on reserve at the Main Library (though not available 4/27).
Wednesday April 28: Read: In Harkin and Lewis, eds., Native Americans and the Environment, chapter 5 (Burch) and chapter 6 (Flores).
Thurs/Fri April 29/30: Read: In Harkin and Lewis, eds., Native Americans and the Environment, chapter 9 (Harking) and chapter 11 (Nesper and Schlender).
Week Twelve
Monday May 3: Bruce Braun, “’On the Raggedy Edge of Risk’: Articulations of Race and Nature After Biology,” in Donald S. Moore, Jake Kosek, and Anand Pandian, eds., Race, Nature, and the Politics of Difference (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2003), 175-203, on E-Reserve.
Wednesday May 5: Final thoughts.
Thurs/Friday May 6/7: Read Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild, complete.
Week Thirteen:
Monday May 10: No Discussions/No Class.
Final Exam: THURS. MAY 13, 9am-12pm (to be confirmed).