Academic Catalog

ENGL 10A: LITERATURE & THE ENVIRONMENT

Foothill College Course Outline of Record

Foothill College Course Outline of Record
Heading Value
Effective Term: Summer 2022
Units: 4
Hours: 4 lecture per week (48 total per quarter)
Advisory: Demonstrated proficiency in English by placement via multiple measures OR through an equivalent placement process OR completion of ESLL 125 & ESLL 249.
Degree & Credit Status: Degree-Applicable Credit Course
Foothill GE: Area I: Humanities
Transferable: CSU/UC
Grade Type: Letter Grade (Request for Pass/No Pass)
Repeatability: Not Repeatable

Description

Study of literature from an environmental perspective. Analysis of texts across time, place, and space to explore the relationship between nature and culture, the human and non-human. Examination of how literature reflects, shapes, and constructs perceptions of built and natural environments. Emphasis on intersections between literature, activism, and environmental justice from the perspectives of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, dis/ability, citizenship, geography, and species.

Course Objectives

The student will be able to:

  1. Trace the literary history of ecological thinking within various historical, geopolitical, aesthetic, philosophical, scientific, and theoretical contexts.
  2. Apply ecocritical approaches to assess texts for the transmission of ecological values and to investigate relationships between nature and culture and the human and nonhuman.
  3. Examine the intersection between literature and environmental justice from sites of oppression and privilege.
  4. Formulate a relationship between literature, environmental justice, and activism.

Course Content

  1. Trace the literary history of ecological thinking within various historical, geopolitical, aesthetic, philosophical, scientific, and theoretical contexts, such as:
    1. Emergence of ecological thought
      1. Epic poetry
      2. Religious texts
      3. Indigenous narratives
      4. Drama
      5. Pastoral ideal
      6. Settler literature
      7. Romantic ecologies
      8. Plantation ecologies
      9. Environmental existentialism
      10. Survival of the fittest
      11. Global warming
      12. Machine in the garden
    2. ​​​Modern environmentalism
      1. Conservation and preservation
      2. Tourism
      3. Literary ecology
      4. Ecocriticism
      5. Ecofeminism
      6. Space and place
      7. Deep ecology
      8. Production and reception
      9. The Anthropocene
      10. Science fiction
      11. Literary realism
      12. Utopian and dystopian
      13. Agriculture and food studies
      14. Climate crisis
      15. Resource extraction and energy
      16. Eco-anxiety
    3. ​​Posthumanism
      1. ​Cyborgs and virtual bodies
      2. Critical animal studies
      3. New materialisms
      4. Transcorporealism 
      5. Transspecieism
      6. Extinction
  2. ​Apply ecocritical approaches to assess texts for the transmission of ecological values and to investigate relationships between nature and culture and the human and nonhuman, such as:
    1. Stylistic elements
    2. Genre conventions
    3. Indigenous resistance and resilience
    4. Black feminist ecological thought
    5. Latinx environmentalisms
    6. Postcolonial ecocriticism
    7. Decolonial environmentalism
    8. Dark ecology
    9. Queer ecology
    10. Oceanic studies
    11. Urban ecology
  3. ​Examine the intersection between literature and environmental justice from sites of oppression and privilege, such as:
    1. ​Race
    2. Ethnicity
    3. Gender
    4. Sexuality
    5. Socioeconomic class
    6. Dis/ability
    7. Citizenship status
    8. Geography
    9. Species
  4. ​Formulate a relationship between literature, environmental justice, and activism
    1. Literary representations of environmental activism
    2. Literature as a performance environmental activism
    3. Literature and the potential for environmental social change

Lab Content

Not applicable.

Special Facilities and/or Equipment

1. When taught on campus, no special facility or equipment needed.
2. When taught virtually, ongoing access to a computer with LMS-compatible software and internet browser.

Method(s) of Evaluation

Methods of Evaluation may include but are not limited to the following:

Discussion participation
Journal entries
Literary analysis and critical thinking demonstrated in writing or other media
Presentations that employ ecocritical terms and concepts
Individual and collaborative projects based on assigned texts or independent research
Quizzes
Exams
Service learning or activism motivated by an ecocritical analysis of a literary text

Method(s) of Instruction

Methods of Instruction may include but are not limited to the following:

Independent and collaborative reading or viewing of assigned texts
Lecture presentations on the literary history ecological thinking within geopolitical, aesthetic, philosophical, scientific, and theoretical contexts
Large and small-group discussions of ecocritical theory and approaches based on independent or collaborative research
Instructor-guided and collaborative analysis and interpretation
Student-led discussions and presentations

Representative Text(s) and Other Materials

Sin-leqi-unninni. Epic of Gilgamesh. 2150-1400 BCE.

Homer. Odyssey. 800 BCE.

Lao Tzu. Tao Te Ching. 400 BCE.

. Salinan Indian Creation Story. .

Shakespeare, William. The Tempest. 1611.

Rowlandson, Mary. Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. 1682.

Equiano, Olaudah. The Interesting Narrative of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African. 1789.

Wordsworth, William. “I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud”. 1802.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. 1818.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Nature. 1836.

Fuller, Margaret. Summer on the Lakes. 1844.

Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. 1845.

Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. 1854.

Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. 1861.

Davis, Rebecca Harding. Life in the Iron Mills. 1861.

Ruiz de Burton, María. The Squatter and the Don. 1885.

Chesnutt, Charles. "The Conjure Woman". 1899.

Austin, Mary. Land of Little Rain. 1903.

Cather, Willa. O Pioneers!. 1913.

Hughes, Langston. "The Negro Speaks of Rivers". 1921.

Toomer, Jean. Cane. 1923.

di Donato, Pietro. Christ in Concrete. 1937.

Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. 1937.

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. 1962.

Ballard, J. G.. The Burning World. 1964.

Abbey, Ed. Desert Solitaire. 1968.

Le Guin, Ursula. The Lathe of Heaven. 1971.

Boorman, John. Deliverance. 1972.

Silko, Leslie Marmon. Ceremony. 1977.

Robinson, Marilynne. Housekeeping. 1980.

Márquez, Gabriel Garcia. Love in the Time of Cholera. 1985.

Dash, Julie. Daughters of the Dust. 1991.

Butler, Octavia. Parable of the Sower. 1993.

Castillo, Ana. So Far From God. 1993.

Hogan, Linda. Solar Storms. 1994.

Ozecki, Ruth. My Year of Meats. 1998.

Yamashita, Karen Tei. Tropic of Orange. 1998.

Atwood, Margaret. Oryx and Crake. 2003.

Ghosh, Amitav. The Hungry Tide. 2004.

Ishiguro Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. 2005.

Kang, Han. The Vegetarian. 2007.

Habila, Helon. Oil on Water. 2010.

Ward, Jessamyn. Salvage the Bones. 2011.

Ittäranta, Emmi. Memory of Water. 2014.

Jemisin, N. K.. "The City Born Great". 2016.

VanderMeer, Jeff. Annihiliation. 2016.

Pico, Tommy. Nature Poem. 2017.

Robinson, Kim Stanley. New York, 2140. 2017.

Ganzeer. The Solar Grid. 2018.

Whitehead, Joshua. Jonny Appleseed. 2018.

Fitch, Madeline. Stay and Fight. 2019.

Sudbanthad, Pitchaya. Bangkok Wakes to Rain. 2019.

Vuong, Ocean. On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous. 2019.

McConaghy, Charlotte. Migrations. 2020.

Offill, Jenny. Weather. 2020.

The Birds. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. 1963. Film.

Princess Mononoke. Directed by Hayao Miyazaki. 1997. Film.

Whale Rider. Directed by Niki Caro. 2002. Film.

Children of Men. Directed by Alfonso Cuarón. 2006. Film.

Beasts of the Southern Wild. Directed by Benh Zeitlin. 2012. Film.

The Great Invisible. Directed by Margaret Brown. 2015. Film.

Okja. Directed by Bong Joon-ho. 2017. Film.

Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock. Directed by Myron Dewey and Josh Fox. 2017. Film.

Kong: Skull Island. Directed by Jordan Vogt-Roberts. 2017. Film.

Parasite. Directed by Bong Joon-ho. 2019. Film.

Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments

  1. 30-50 pages each week from assigned literary texts.
  2. Supplemental readings from secondary sources, such as journal articles, monographs, and biographies.
  3. Viewing assigned films.
  4. Writing and research assignments may include journal entries, essays, and annotated bibliographies.
  5. Projects may include service learning or an exploration of environmental activism.

Discipline(s)

English