Group III: Special Topics I
- ENGL 200 / 6.0
- ENGL 290 / 3.0
- A minimum GPA of 2.3 in 9.0 units of ENGL
Literature in the Anthropocene
What Comes After the Anthropocene?
In March of 2024, a panel of expert straitographers answered the question of whether current human actions on the planet have resulted in the beginning of a new epoch, “the Anthropocene,” with a resounding “no,” thus seeming to close the book on a debate two decades, many ice core and sediment samples and temperature charts, and innumerable articles, essays, films, anthologies, and monographs in the making. We remain, they concluded, in the Holocene. Dueling experts immediately questioned this assertion, and the Anthropocene is unlikely to be abandoned so easily, given the concept’s explanatory power for so many scholars interested in contemporary environmental concerns. As Rob Nixon has noted, the Anthropocene has become an intellectual "cavernous maw," drawing in converts and critics from across the disciplines, including literary studies, and generating a robust and diverse scholarly conversation on the place of the “Anthropos” on the planet. Taking this opportunity as a moment for a reflective pause in the frenetic pace of cultural production on this subject, this course will reassess the Anthropocene as a concept, asking what work it has authorized, what kind of thinking it has produced, and what kind of action it has encouraged. Primary texts TBA but may include poetry by Adam Dickinson, Anne Waldman, and Ross Gay; novels by Karen Tei Yamashita, Paulo Bacigalupi, Richard Powers, Robin Wall Kimmerer, and Ruth Ozeki; and films such as Burtynsky’s Anthropocene and Kahiu’s Pumzi. In addition to reading complex texts, writing frequent short response papers, participating in a group presentation, and sitting for a final exam, students will be responsible for keeping a hand-written and illustrated "(post)Anthropocene journal."
This course is repeatable for credit under different topic titles.
About Repeatable Courses
With repeatable courses, the course number (e.g., ENGL 466) is repeatable, but the topic is not. You can take as many topics as you like under the same course number, but you can only take each individual topic once.
Questions? Please email our Undergraduate Assistant