ENVIRONMENTAL HUMANITIES: AN INTRODUCTION

This course is part of the Minor in the Environmental Humanities and is open to all Ca' Foscari BA students.

Students will be able to recognize the main ecological implications of diverse cultural texts in the italian context.

Good knowledge of Italian language, basic knowledge of Italian history and culture.

This course introduces students to the environmental humanities, a cross-disciplinary field that explores the role that humanistic knowledge, in a renewed conversation with the natural and social sciences, can play in interpreting and transforming a world challenged by an unprecedented planetary environmental crisis. We will mainly focus on Venice, a local site that is also a paradigm of the most urgent planetary environmental issues. Starting from the reading of the Italian and Venetian landscape and cultural heritage, the course will survey the main themes and concepts of the environmental humanities (anthropocene, ecocriticism, nature/culture, posthuman, etc.), the reasons why the evidence of the crisis is questioned, denied, disavowed in conscious and unconscious forms at invidual and collective level, and various expressions of environmental activism. We will examine both canonical texts from 'high' culture and examples taken from pop culture (music, film, videos) to understand whether we are truly in an age of transition. Suggestions from the students will be highly appreciated.

Cristina Baldacci et al. (a cura di) VENEZIA E L’ANTROPOCENE. UNA GUIDA ECOCRITICA, Wetlands, 2022
Other texts available on Moodle

An ecocritical essay (approximately 20.000 characters) on a Venetian site chosen by the student and approved by the instructor.

Lectures and discussions on the assigned texts, to be read ahead of every class.

Students with preliminary questions about this new course or the Environmental Humanities Minor in general are invited to contact the instructor.

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Cities, infrastructure and social capital" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development