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Literature, Environment, Activism

Module title	Literature, Environment, Activism
Module code	GEO3147
Academic year	2024/5
Credits	15
Module staff	Dr Laura Smith (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks	10

Number students taking module (anticipated)	90

Module description

The Literature, Environment, Activism module explores the creative and quietly subversive political performances of environmental writing-as-advocacy, within a predominantly North American context. This module explores how nature and environmental writing can be politicised in defence of local, state, and federal land protections—whether by writers themselves, or by conservationists, activists, policymakers, and others. We will study the intersections of page and place through a selection of nonfiction environmental texts from the mid-nineteenth century onwards that have informed and moulded on-the-ground land conservation practices, or contributed to environmental regulation and legislation. We will also look at how fiction—such as climate fiction and speculative fiction, and the graphic novel—has emerged as another platform for commentary on the environmental condition. This module offers geographical approaches and tools to help students explore the contributions of environmental writing to conservation campaigns, and its place in wider environmental activism and protest narratives. We will ask questions of ‘literature,’ ‘environment,’ and ‘activism,’ and the intersections between them. We will examine the connections between writers and places, and the many ways literature is responding to ecological crisis and disaster and the climate emergency.  

Module aims - intentions of the module

In this cultural geography module, students will develop a critical understanding of how nature and environmental writing becomes politicised in defence of the land—whether by writers themselves, or by conservationists, activists, policymakers, and others. We will encounter a range of activist literary texts from the mid-nineteenth century onwards, and from across the continental United States.

This module aims:

• To introduce students to the creative practices and performances of environmental writing-as-advocacy
• To enable students to apply their geographical knowledge in a practical manner in order to critically engage with environmental activism and advocacy narratives
• To provide students with an opportunity to creatively respond to e.g. an environmental writer, a piece of activist-writing, or an environmental issue/scenario

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. Describe the place/contribution of environmental writing in narratives, practices, and performances of environmental activism, advocacy, and protest
• 2. Reflect on the synergies and distortions between the landscape on the page and the landscape in place
• 3. Combine creative and academic writing (and visuals) to present your work to different audiences

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 4. Illustrate and discuss the contested and provisional nature of knowledge and understanding
• 5. Describe the nature of explanation within human geography, allowing for the critical evaluation of arguments, assumptions, and abstractions, to make correct judgments, to frame and successfully solve a problem

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 6. Formulative and evaluate questions, and identify and evaluate approaches to problem-solving
• 7. Identify, acquire, evaluate, and synthesise material from a range of sources
• 8. Formulate a sustained and reasoned argument
• 9. Communicate ideas, concepts, and theories effectively and fluently in class or online by written, oral, and visual means
• 10. Develop independent learning skills, including self-directed reading, literature searches, and time management

Syllabus plan

The different blocks of the module all address the interplay between literature—environment—activism. Whilst the syllabus content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover a combination of the following themes/topics: 

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

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
22	128	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching	9	Lecture
Scheduled Learning and Teaching	9	Book Club (reading seminar)
Scheduled Learning and Teaching	2	Zine making workshop
Scheduled Learning and Teaching	2	workshop/surgery for zine idea
Guided independent study	4	Online field experience (Stover Country Park, Bovey Tracey, exploring the Ted Hughes Poetry Trail)
Guided Independent Study	124	Preparatory reading, activities, researching and writing formative and summative assignments

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Zine proposal	5 slides	All	Verbal

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Zine (mini magazine)	50	8-page mini magazine (size A2 paper)	All	Written
Critical Commentary	50	2,000 words	All	Written

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

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Zine	Zine	All	Referral/Deferral period
Critical Commentary	Critical Commentary	All	ReferralDeferral period

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 as a result 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 re-submit the relevant assessment. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Key words search

Activism, advocacy, ecocriticism, environmental history, environmental humanities, environmental literature, environmental politics, environmental protest, literary geographies, nature, wilderness

Credit value	15
Module ECTS	7.5
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	7.5
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	10/03/2021
Last revision date	14/03/2024