WRITING, CULTURE AND ECOLOGY

ENG3WCE

2020

Credit points: 15

Subject outline

This subject asks how writing has shaped relationships between 'culture' and 'nature' from the beginning of the Anthropocene in the late 1700s to the present. You will explore key literary scenes that have dramatically reimagined 'nature', 'the environment', and the future of life: from the poetry of untameable nature produced alongside the mass urbanisation of the Industrial Revolution; to the mode of ecological polemic that coincides with the rise of environmentalism as a political movement in the 1960s and 70s; to Indigenous story-telling as a caring for country through the violence of settler colonization; to writing in our present moment, with an awareness of what to many seems a foreshortened future. Literature has not always been a benign force in the relationships between people and the more-than-human world; what role does it have in understanding and storying the present and future of that relationship?

School: Humanities and Social Sciences (Pre 2022)

Credit points: 15

Subject Co-ordinator: Alexis Harley

Available to Study Abroad/Exchange Students: Yes

Subject year level: Year Level 3 - UG

Exchange Students: No

Available as Elective: No

Learning Activities: N/A

Capstone subject: No

Subject particulars

Subject rules

Prerequisites: 60 credit points of level two subjects

Co-requisites: N/A

Incompatible subjects: N/A

Equivalent subjects: N/A

Quota Management Strategy: N/A

Quota-conditions or rules: N/A

Special conditions: N/A

Minimum credit point requirement: N/A

Assumed knowledge: N/A

Learning resources

Blade Runner 2049

Resource Type: Web resource

Resource Requirement: Prescribed

Author: Denis Villeneuve

Year: N/A

Edition/Volume: N/A

Publisher: Sony Pictures

ISBN: N/A

Chapter/article title: N/A

Chapter/issue: N/A

URL: N/A

Other description: N/A

Source location: N/A

Essays, poetry and extracts

Resource Type: Book

Resource Requirement: Prescribed

Author: Provided on LMS

Year: N/A

Edition/Volume: N/A

Publisher: LMS

ISBN: N/A

Chapter/article title: N/A

Chapter/issue: N/A

URL: N/A

Other description: N/A

Source location: N/A

Silent Spring

Resource Type: Book

Resource Requirement: Prescribed

Author: Rachel Carson

Year: N/A

Edition/Volume: N/A

Publisher: Penguin

ISBN: N/A

Chapter/article title: N/A

Chapter/issue: N/A

URL: N/A

Other description: N/A

Source location: N/A

Things Fall Apart

Resource Type: Book

Resource Requirement: Prescribed

Author: Chinua Achebe

Year: N/A

Edition/Volume: N/A

Publisher: Penguin

ISBN: N/A

Chapter/article title: N/A

Chapter/issue: N/A

URL: N/A

Other description: N/A

Source location: N/A

Ghost River

Resource Type: Book

Resource Requirement: Prescribed

Author: Tony Birch

Year: N/A

Edition/Volume: N/A

Publisher: U of Queensland P

ISBN: N/A

Chapter/article title: N/A

Chapter/issue: N/A

URL: N/A

Other description: N/A

Source location: N/A

The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins

Resource Type: Book

Resource Requirement: Prescribed

Author: Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing

Year: N/A

Edition/Volume: N/A

Publisher: Princeton UP

ISBN: N/A

Chapter/article title: N/A

Chapter/issue: N/A

URL: N/A

Other description: N/A

Source location: N/A

Career Ready

Career-focused: No

Work-based learning: No

Self sourced or Uni sourced: N/A

Entire subject or partial subject: N/A

Total hours/days required: N/A

Location of WBL activity (region): N/A

WBL addtional requirements: N/A

Graduate capabilities & intended learning outcomes

Graduate Capabilities

COMMUNICATION - Communicating and Influencing

COMMUNICATION - Cultural Intelligence and Global Perspective

DISCIPLINE KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

INQUIRY AND ANALYSIS - Creativity and Innovation

INQUIRY AND ANALYSIS - Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

INQUIRY AND ANALYSIS - Research and Evidence-Based Inquiry

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL - Adaptability and Self-Management

PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL - Ethical and Social Responsibility

Intended Learning Outcomes

01. Identify key debates in the field of ecocriticism and cultural ecology.

02. Demonstrate understanding of the ways literary texts engage with their literary, biomaterial, political, and historical contexts.

03. Formulate arguments based on critical analysis of a range of texts in environmental literature

04. Reflect critically on the practical and ethical role of literature in communicating ideas about the relationship between societies and environments

Melbourne (Bundoora), 2020, Semester 2, Blended

Overview

Online enrolment: Yes

Maximum enrolment size: N/A

Enrolment information: N/A

Subject Instance Co-ordinator: Alexis Harley

Class requirements

LectureWeek: 31 - 43
One 1.00 hour lecture per week on weekdays during the day from week 31 to week 43 and delivered via face-to-face.

TutorialWeek: 31 - 43
One 1.00 hour tutorial per week on weekdays during the day from week 31 to week 43 and delivered via face-to-face.

Unscheduled Online ClassWeek: 31 - 43
One 1.00 hour unscheduled online class per week on weekdays during the day from week 31 to week 43 and delivered via online.

Assessments

Assessment element	Comments	Category	Contribution	Hurdle	%	ILO*
LMS Workshops: short-answer responses to online tasks (1200 words equivalent)	N/A	N/A	N/A	No	30	SILO1, SILO2
Textual analysis: 1200 words.	N/A	N/A	N/A	No	30	SILO1, SILO2, SILO3
Research project: 1800 words.	N/A	N/A	N/A	No	40	SILO1, SILO2, SILO3, SILO4