Environmental Humanities Concentration

Humanities for a changing planet

The field of environmental humanities explores the role of culture, value, and meaning in shaping the human relationship to the environment. Drawing on perspectives from literature, history, philosophy, visual culture, and digital media, the concentration foregrounds the importance of humanities disciplines to understanding and responding to the climate crisis, and related challenges facing a planet under duress.

Concentration

Environmental humanities program directors gather with students at the launch event of the School of Climate, Environment, and Society

The environmental humanities concentration builds on the interdisciplinary strengths at Clark, where faculty in the social and natural sciences and the humanities have long been recognized for their research in climate change, sustainability, and conservation. Courses examine the systems of knowledge that orient humans to the environment — considering, as examples, topics such as wilderness, waste, animals, and extinction — while also investigating broader intersections with colonial histories, constructions of self and identity, and transnational politics and culture. With a decided focus on history, narrative, and storytelling, the humanities offer a means to imagine and cultivate more ethical relationships both with the nonhuman world and within human communities themselves. Students in all fields are welcome and may find the concentration to be a valuable supplement to their studies.

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School of Climate, Environment, and Society

Department of English

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Students in the Hadwen Arboretum during the launch of the School of Climate, Environment, and Society

Requirements

The Environmental Humanities Concentration requires five courses/units.

Two required core courses:

CMLT 125 – Intro to Environmental Humanities
ENG 126 – Ecofictions: Literature and Environment

Three electives (at least two at the 200-level)
Sample options include:

ARTS 162 – Exploring the Natural World: Seeding Artistic Process with Drawing and Mixed Media
CMLT 136 – Afrofuturism and Social Justice
CMLT 180 – Decolonial Ecology in the Caribbean
ENG 102 – From Cli-Fi to Frankenstein: Reading and Writing Climate Narrative
ENG 127 – Literary Animals: The Nonhuman Turn
ENG 223 – Cultures of Energy: Nature, Power, Aesthetics
GEOG 020 – American Cities: Changing Spaces, Community Places
GEOG 090 – Native Americans, Land and Natural Resources
GEOG 111 – Communicating Climate Change
HIST 272 – Indigenous Environmental History
ID 234 – Climate Narratives
MCA 119 – Soundscapes & Acoustic Ecology
PHIL 131 – Environmental Ethics

Faculty

Co-Directors:

Christina Gerhardt (Language, Literature, and Culture)
Stephen Levin (English)

Core Faculty:

Nathan Braccio (History)
Odile Ferly (French and Francophone Studies)
Nana Kesse (History)
Eman Lasheen (Sustainability and Social Justice)
Matt Malsky (Visual and Performing Arts)

Programs