551.335 (21S) Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Friends of the Earth: Environmentalism in American Literature

Sommersemester 2021

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Erster Termin der LV
10.03.2021 16:00 - 20:00 online Off Campus
... keine weiteren Termine bekannt

Überblick

Bedingt durch die COVID-19-Pandemie können kurzfristige Änderungen bei Lehrveranstaltungen und Prüfungen (z.B. Absage von Präsenz-Lehreveranstaltungen und Umstellung auf Online-Prüfungen) erforderlich sein.

Weitere Informationen zum Lehrbetrieb vor Ort finden Sie unter: https://www.aau.at/corona.
Lehrende/r
LV-Titel englisch Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Friends of the Earth: Environmentalism in American Literature
LV-Art Seminar (prüfungsimmanente LV )
LV-Modell Onlinelehrveranstaltung
Semesterstunde/n 2.0
ECTS-Anrechnungspunkte 8.0
Anmeldungen 5 (20 max.)
Organisationseinheit
Unterrichtssprache Englisch
mögliche Sprache/n der Leistungserbringung Englisch
LV-Beginn 10.03.2021
eLearning zum Moodle-Kurs
Anmerkungen

This is a block seminar which will be taught online in altogether 6 blocked sessions. 

Attendance (online) of the first double session on March 10, 2021 is mandatory. 

Enrolled students will be informed about the exact format of the class by email. 

Zeit und Ort

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LV-Beschreibung

Intendierte Lernergebnisse

Students will learn to articulate how American writers have explored American relationships to nature as well as the environmental activist movements that, historically, have questioned and protested against ecologically destructive practices. They will establish connections between such texts and contemporary environmental problems. 

Lehrmethodik inkl. Einsatz von eLearning-Tools

Short lecture inputs; in-depth discussions of assigned texts (online). 

Inhalt/e

In this seminar, we will look at a range of American novels that explore the costs and benefits of environmental activism. What can activism achieve and what are the risks involved for those engaging in it? Which forms of activism are the most effective and how much radicalism can be justified? These are some of the questions we will explore in this class. We will start out with Edward Abbey’s influential classic The Monkey Wrench Gang (1975), and then move on to four more recent novels that all feature activists fighting against ecologically destructive practices such as logging, mountaintop removal mining, genetical modification, and carbon pollution: Ruth Ozeki’s All Over Creation (1998), Ann Pancake’s Strange as this Weather Has Been (2007), T.C. Boyle’s A Friend of the Earth (2000), and Kim Stanley Robinson’s The Ministry for the Future (2020). What unites these novels is that they shed a critical light on the “American Way of Life” specifically, and on the unsustainable Western lifestyle more generally, while also interrogating the efficacy of protest and rebellion. We will discuss the various approaches to environmental ethics that these texts express and bring them in conversation with each other as well as with the environmental issues facing American society today.

Literatur

Edward Abbey. The Monkey Wrench Gang. Any edition.

Ruth Ozeki. All Over Creation. Any edition.

Ann Pancake. Strange as this Weather Has Been. Any edition.

T.C. Boyle.  A Friend of the Earth. Any edition.

Kim Stanley Robinson. The Ministry for the Future. Any edition.

All other texts will be provided by the instructor on Moodle. 

Prüfungsinformationen

Im Fall von online durchgeführten Prüfungen sind die Standards zu beachten, die die technischen Geräte der Studierenden erfüllen müssen, um an diesen Prüfungen teilnehmen zu können.

Prüfungsmethode/n

Participation 30%

Response paper 20%

Final paper 50%

Beurteilungsschema

Note Benotungsschema

Position im Curriculum

  • Masterstudium Anglistik und Amerikanistik (SKZ: 812, Version: 18W.1)
    • Fach: Literature and Culture Studies (Wahlfach)
      • 3.4 Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies I ( 0.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
        • 551.335 Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Friends of the Earth: Environmentalism in American Literature (2.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
          Absolvierung im 2. Semester empfohlen
  • Masterstudium Anglistik und Amerikanistik (SKZ: 812, Version: 11W.1)
    • Fach: Film, Literature and Culture Studies (Wahlfach)
      • Advanced Topics in „Film, Literature and Culture Studies” ( 0.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)
        • 551.335 Advanced Topics in Literature and Culture Studies: Friends of the Earth: Environmentalism in American Literature (2.0h SE / 8.0 ECTS)

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