ENG 269 Environmental Literature

1. Read literary works at a literal and at a figurative level. 
2. Identify, and put into conversation, voices that speak from different perspectives. Examine how these diverse groups define and are affected by the natural environment in various ways. 
3. Identify the types and purposes of environmental literature and writers, including expressing the difference between a focus on pristine wilderness and a more inclusive focus on toxic/polluted environments and human interaction with the land. 
4. Identify the literary devices and stylistic and rhetorical choices used by writers in order to enhance the understanding and appreciation of the selections. 
5. Write critical essays about the selections, using a controlling thesis statement, textual support, documentation, and standard grammar/mechanics. 
6. Articulate and defend plausible interpretations of environmental literature orally and in writing. 
7. Articulate a response to the environment in writing, form a working definition of a home landscape, and articulate the implications of this definition. 
8. Use critical thinking skills to interpret the implications of studying environmental literature, of various definitions of landscape, of the agendas these definitions might serve, and of how these agendas play out economically and socially. 
9. Describe the political and justice-related aspects of environmental literature and of the local environment. 
10. Begin to move from reading to possible action by actively considering complex problems and by suggesting personal actions that affect the local landscape. 

Statewide General Education Outcomes:

1. Interpret and engage in the Arts and Letters, making use of the creative process to enrich the quality of life.  
2. Critically analyze values and ethics within a range of human experience and expression to engage more fully in local and global issues. 

Cultural Literacy (DPR) Outcome:

1. Identify and analyze complex practices, values, and beliefs and the culturally and historically defined meanings of difference. 

• Relevance of Studying Environmental Literature 
  • How to move from reading to local, social action 
  • How environmental literature is linked to current issues of social justice (classism, racism, sexism, etc.) 
• Definitions of Environmental Literature, of the Natural Environment, and of Various Groups Living on the Land 
  • Expanding and changing canon to include minority voices 
  • How landscape is defined in order to fulfill certain political agendas that impact various groups unevenly (i.e. where to put waste facilities) 
  • How definitions of the landscape and of the people on the land affect inhabitants positively and/or negatively 
• History and Development of Environmental Literature 
  • First signs of the genre 
  • Subsequent development 
  • Current trends in the expanding canon, in ecocriticism, and in environmental justice 
• Themes/Issues 
  • Observing, exploring, challenging, and destroying the natural world 
  • Using and living on and with the land - who is burdened and who benefits, who works the land and who owns it, who has the leisure to “play” 
  • Various cultural understandings in conversation and in conflict 
  • Idea of pristine landscapes vs. human use and toxic environments 
  • Ecofeminism 
  • US history and Manifest Destiny’s reliance on the myth of an empty landscape 
  • Current environmental justice issues 
• Literary, Stylistic, and Rhetorical Devices Employed in Environmental Literature 
• Techniques of Writing Literary Works About the Natural World