Creative Ecologies: American Environmental Narrative and Art

This seminar examines contemporary American literature, media and visual culture through the lens of ecological ideas and environmental movements. Our materials will focus on the work of animators, filmmakers, journalists, novelists, poets and social practice artists. Several questions will guide our exploration of what the course calls creative ecologies: How do creators and storytellers integrate—or reimagine and rethink—the core ideas of the environmental sciences as well as environmental movements? What roles do storytelling, filmmaking and the arts play in catalyzing or crystallizing new understandings of such issues as biodiversity loss, ecological conservation, pollution and climate change? And how do artists and their works envision both environmental histories and environmental futures that ring true for and speak to the audiences they address?