Paul Hansom of the Department of English is offering an ICC Themes and Perspectives course this semester on the role of literature in defining, shaping, and responding to environmental concerns. The title of the course is "Earth Works: Literature, Nature, and the Environment," and it carries with it a themes designation of both Mind, Body, Spirit, and Quest for a Sustainable Future.
What is the nature of nature? At first glance this is one of those annoying questions specifically designed to irritate you. But it is also the central premise of this class. Since we spend our entire lives surrounded by the non-human realm (casually, often dismissively, labeled “nature”), it might be a good idea to do some thinking about the environment we’re actually a part of. This class offers a literary, cultural, and historical exploration into the idea of “nature” and the “natural.”
While it may seem self-evident to us that nature is all that stuff “out there” – trees, rocks, oceans, animals, etc -- this class will attempt to explore how the nonhuman world in literature is not so much a simple, common-sense thing, but a dynamic set of ideas and relationships that change with time and location. These literary representations – earth-works, if you like – have the power to re-direct our attention, asking us to respond, interact, and perhaps even develop a new perspective or consciousness. By examining the natural world present in novels, poems and non-fictions, we are potentially released to see the world as it is.
Further detail about this course can be found here, on the English Department's webpage.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20160126231258946