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Elements of Environmental Humanities

Module description

How can the humanities help us understand and act ecological emergencies? How do these emergencies challenge traditional approaches to the study of the human and how we understand culture and society? This module introduces you to the study of environmental topics, including the oceans, energy, the more-than-human world, earth matter and Earth as planet, through the methods and approaches of the environmental humanities. Drawing on decolonial, indigenous and posthumanist perspectives throughout, you will explore these humanities approaches to environmental scholarship in conversation with the natural and social sciences, drawing on, while also challenging boundaries between, these disciplinary fields of inquiry.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module offers you an introduction to and critical grounding in humanities approaches to the study of the environment. Your learning will take you through various theories and bodies of scholarship from different areas of the Environmental Humanities, including, for example, Landscape, the Blue Humanities, Energy Humanities, Earth Humanities, and the study of the more-than-human world. You will engage with insights from a range of perspectives, including decolonial, indigenous and posthumanist thinkers, scientists and environmentalists, on the ecological and climate emergency. As well as developing a critical grounding in how the humanities can contribute to action on and enhance our understanding of these emergencies, you will also gain experience of working on complex, societal challenges collaboratively and across disciplines. 

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. This module offers you an introduction to and critical grounding in humanities approaches to the study of the environment. Your learning will take you through various theories and bodies of scholarship from different areas of the Environmental Humanities, including, for example, Landscape, the Blue Humanities, Energy Humanities, Earth Humanities, and the study of the more-than-human world. You will engage with insights from a range of perspectives, including decolonial, indigenous and posthumanist thinkers, scientists and environmentalists, on the ecological and climate emergency. As well as developing a critical grounding in how the humanities can contribute to action on and enhance our understanding of these emergencies, you will also gain experience of working on complex, societal challenges collaboratively and across disciplines.
• 2. Understand the links between core environmental humanities approaches and decolonial, indigenous and posthumanist thought and practice.
• 3. Use environmental humanities approaches to draw and assess links between past and present forms of environmental degradation, imperialism, extraction and exploitation across the human and more-than-human world.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Engage with and apply a range of theoretical and practical approaches from the environmental humanities alongside insights from the natural and social sciences.
• 5. Respond critically and creatively to the interdisciplinary study of climate and ecological emergencies.
• 6. Deploy the study of the past in strategically presentist ways to deepen our understanding of ecological and social emergencies today.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 7. Construct and present a clear and compelling argument and respond confidently to questions from an informed audience.
• 8. Synthesise, and critically and empathetically handle, diverse source materials, including academic and non-academic sources.
• 9. Apply interdisciplinary research skills to complex, global challenges in order to deepen understanding of and contribute to action on the climate and ecological emergencies.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the content may vary from year to year, topics may include some or all of the following:

• Blue Humanities (sea)
• Energy Humanities (petrocultures)
• Earth Humanities (geology, soils, minerals)
• The more-than-human world (plant, animal)
• Landscapes (agricultural and industrial)

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken because of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Barad, Karen. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Duke University Press, 2007.
• Bennett, Jane. Vibrant Matter: A Political Ecology of Things. Duke University Press, 2010.
• Foster, John Bellamy. Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature. Monthly Review press, 2000.
• Gomez-Barris, Macarena. The Extractive Zone: Social Ecologies and Decolonial Perspectives. Duke University Press, 2017.
• Haraway, Donna J. When Species Meet. University of Minnesota press, 2008.
• Oppermann S. Blue Humanities: Storied Waterscapes in the Anthropocene. Cambridge University Press; 2023.
• Papadópoulos, D?m??tr?s, et al. Reactivating Elements: Chemistry, Ecology, Practice. Duke University Press, 2021.
• Povinelli, Elizabeth A. Geontologies: A Requiem to Late Liberalism. Duke University Press, 2016.
• Puig de la Bellacasa, María. Matters of Care: Speculative Ethics in More than Human Worlds. University of Minnesota Press, 2017.
• Sait?, K?hei. Karl Marx’s Ecosocialism: Capitalism, Nature, and the Unfinished Critique of Political Economy. Monthly review press, 2017.
• Sandilands C. Plants. In: Cohen J, Foote S, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Environmental Humanities. Cambridge Companions to Literature. Cambridge University Press; 2021:156-169.
• Szeman, Imre. On Petrocultures: Globalization, Culture, and Energy. West Virginia University Press, 2019. Project MUSE

Key words search

Environment, climate, earth, energy, more-than-human, animal, plant, oceans, landscapes, imperialism, extraction