ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES: AN INTRODUCTION

The course is a first-year requirement for all students of the Master Degree in Environmental Humanities.

The final goal is to enable students to address cultural issues related to climate change from a theoretical perspective in a largely self-directed or autonomous manner.

Advanced reading, speaking and writing knowledge of English (B2)

This course introduces students to the environmental humanities, a cross-disciplinary field that explores the role that humanistic knowledge, in close conversation with the natural and social sciences, can play in interpreting and transforming a world challenged by an unprecedented climate and environmental crisis. We will survey the history of the field, its main debates and key terminology (anthropocene, ecocriticism, nature/culture, posthuman, etc.). We will explore the different political interpretations of ecology, forms of activism and public impact, examples of intellectual and artistic intervention. We will overview the main themes (climate change, human and hon-humans relations, the nexus between migration and environmental changes, global tourism, western and non-western approaches to ecology, etc) and draw from a wide range of materials (literature, visual and performing arts, film, political writing, digital culture, etc.). We will critically examine the implications, benefits, and challenges of bringing widely different disciplines and discourses (climate science and anthropology, philosophy and biology) within the same framework. Most of our examples will be drawn from the cultural history and present condition of Venice and its unique ecosystem, showing how this microcosm encapsulates most of the global issues at stake.
In summary, we will be addressing the role of the imagination in facing the planetary environmental crisis.

Amitav Ghosh, THE GREAT DERANGEMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE UNTHINKABLE, The University of Chicago Press, 2016
Serpil Oppermann and Serenella Iovino, ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES: VOICES FROM THE ANTHROPOCENE, Rowman & Littlefield International, 2016 (selected chapters)
Selected essays and multimedia material available on the Moodle platform.

The exam will be based on a continuous assessment system requiring, after the third week of instruction, weekly reports from students organized in small teams and a final individual project (to be discussed in advance with the professor).

Lectures, class discussion, online activities.

English

In case the university is not fully accessible during the first semester, the class will take place in a blended or online format with no substantial changes to the programme.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Climate change and energy" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development