11/21/2024 1:34:34 AM	ENGL 10 Course Outline as of Summer 2019	Changed Course
CATALOG INFORMATION
Discipline and Nbr:  ENGL 10	Title:  INTRO LIT & ENVIRONMENT
Full Title:  Introduction to Environmental Literature
Last Reviewed:4/11/2022

Units		Course Hours per Week			Nbr of Weeks	Course Hours Total
Maximum	3.00	Lecture Scheduled	3.00		17.5 max.	Lecture Scheduled	52.50
Minimum	3.00	Lab Scheduled	0		6 min.	Lab Scheduled	0
		Contact DHR	0			Contact DHR	0
		Contact Total	3.00			Contact Total	52.50
		Non-contact DHR	0			Non-contact DHR Total	0

Total Out of Class Hours:  105.00

Total Student Learning Hours: 157.50

Title 5 Category:  AA Degree Applicable
Grading:  Grade or P/NP
Repeatability:  00 - Two Repeats if Grade was D, F, NC, or NP
Also Listed As: 
Formerly: 

Catalog Description:

Introduction to American environmental literature. Study will include major figures, themes, and historical periods; different cultural perspectives on the relationship between humans and the non-human world; the role women have played in the development of the genre; and the relationship between environmental literature and emerging environmental concerns.

Prerequisites/Corequisites:
Completion of ENGL 100B or higher (V8) OR Course Completion of ENGL 100 OR Course Completion of ESL 100 or appropriate placement based on AB705 mandates

Recommended Preparation:

Limits on Enrollment:

Schedule of Classes Information
Description:

Introduction to American environmental literature. Study will include major figures, themes, and historical periods; different cultural perspectives on the relationship between humans and the non-human world; the role women have played in the development of the genre; and the relationship between environmental literature and emerging environmental concerns.

(Grade or P/NP)
Prerequisites:Completion of ENGL 100B or higher (V8) OR Course Completion of ENGL 100 OR Course Completion of ESL 100 or appropriate placement based on AB705 mandates
Recommended:
Limits on Enrollment:
Transfer Credit:CSU;UC.
Repeatability:00 - Two Repeats if Grade was D, F, NC, or NP

ARTICULATION, MAJOR, and CERTIFICATION INFORMATION

Associate Degree:		Effective:	Fall 2004	Inactive:
Area:	E H	Humanities Global Perspective and Environmental Literacy
CSU GE:	Transfer Area			Effective:	Inactive:
	C2	Humanities		Fall 2004
IGETC:	Transfer Area			Effective:	Inactive:
	3B	Humanities		Fall 2004
CSU Transfer:	Transferable	Effective:	Fall 2004	Inactive:
UC Transfer:	Transferable	Effective:	Fall 2004	Inactive:
C-ID:

Certificate/Major Applicable: Major Applicable Course

COURSE CONTENT

Student Learning Outcomes:
At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

1.  Critically read, analyze, and interpret major works in the American environmental tradition.

2.  Demonstrate understanding of the influence of major early figures, such as Thoreau and Muir, on 20th- and 21st- century environmentalist writing.

3.  Distinguish between literary perspectives on the relationship between humans and the non-human world.

 

Objectives:

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

1. Define environmental literature as a genre

2. Identify selected major figures in environmental literature and

  analyze their contribution to the genre

3. Identify major historical patterns and emerging traditions embodied

  in environmental texts

4. Compare and contrast the ways in which human relationship to the

  non-human world has been imagined in literature from two or more

  cultures

5. Critique some aspects of contemporary United States culture from an ecological

  perspective

6. Assess the contribution of literary texts to the emerging culture of

  environmental concern

Topics and Scope

Topics will include but not be limited to:

I. Overview of literature and literary genres

  A. Definitions of literature

  B. Overview of literary genres

  C. The genre of environmental literature

     1. definitions and literary scope of the genre

     2. the interdisciplinary nature of the genre

II. Major figures in environmental literature

  A. Contributions of nonfiction writers: e.g. Henry David Thoreau,

     John Muir, Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Barry Lopez, Annie

     Dillard, Wendell Berry, Edward Abbey, Terry Tempest Williams,

     N. Scott Momaday

  B. Contributions of fiction writers: e.g. Pam Huston, Barry Lopez,

     Leslie Marmon Silko

  C. Contributions of poets: e.g. Gary Snyder, A.R. Ammons, Mary Oliver

III. Historical patterns and emerging traditions in environmental

    literature

  A. The pastoral tradition in Greek and Western romantic literature

  B. Early American literature: Descriptions of nature and writing

     about regions in the 17th- and 18th- centuries

  C. Thoreau and the birth of the nature essay in the 19th-century

  D. Turn-of-the-Century: Extending the Thoreauvian tradition

  E. 20th-century renaissance of American environmental nonfiction

     1. literal vs. metaphorical representations of the environment

     2. connections with science, art, history, economics, and policy

     3. the concept of Place

     4. movement from egocentrism to ecocentrism

  F. Major contributions of women to American environmental literature:

     e.g. Susan Cooper, Mary Austin, Rachel Carson, Annie Dillard, Terry

     Tempest Williams, Mary Oliver

IV. Similarities and differences in the ways in which literary works of

     different cultures have imagined the human relationship to the

     non-human world

  A. Oral vs written literary traditions

  B. American Indian vs. Western creation stories

  C. Conceptions of place in indigenous and Western cultures

  D. Cultural perspectives on an "ethical" relationship to the land

V. Ecocriticism: a critical approach to literature and culture

  A. Definition of a "critical approach" to literature

  B. Overview of other critical approaches: e.g. formalist, historical

      deconstruction, psychoanalytic, feminist, reader response

  C.  Definition of ecocriticism

  D. Practice of ecocriticism

VI. Environmental literature and the emerging culture of environmental

   concern

  A. Ways in which the arts in general and texts in particular both

     shape and express values and attitudes towards the natural world

  B. Ways in which texts can provoke environmental reflection and practice restorationism

  C. Art, advocacy, and activism

Assignments:

Reading assignments may include:

 

1. Assigned readings from major works of environmental literature

2. Selected essays on environmental literature as a genre

3. Selected essays offering different cultural perspectives on the

  nonhuman world

4. Selected essays on ecocentrism as a critical approach to literature

 

Writing assignments may include:

 

1. A structured reading journal on assigned readings

2. Essay exams covering units of study

3. Analytical essays on assigned works (500-1,000 words)

4. Personal essays in response to assigned works (500-1,000 words)

5. Ecocritical analysis of a text, film, or advertisement

6. Term papers requiring research and MLA documentation (1,500-2,500

  words)

7. Original student writing in the genre of environmental literature

 

Other assignments may include:

 

1. Group or individual presentations on particular authors, time periods

  or themes

2. Quizzes: objective and essay examinations

3. Field trips to explore a local ecosystem

4. Group or class project: Based on class readings and personal experience

 create a set of ethical and practical

  principles (a land ethic) that can serve as a guide for the human relationship to the

  land

Methods of Evaluation/Basis of Grade.

Writing: Assessment tools that demonstrate writing skill and/or require students to select, organize and explain ideas in writing.		Writing 70 - 75%
Written homework, analytical essay, personal narrative essay, ecocritical analysis, essay exams, term paper, structured reading journals
Problem solving: Assessment tools, other than exams, that demonstrate competence in computational or non-computational problem solving skills.		Problem Solving 5 - 10%
Group project
Skill Demonstrations: All skill-based and physical demonstrations used for assessment purposes including skill performance exams.		Skill Demonstrations 0 - 0%
None
Exams: All forms of formal testing, other than skill performance exams.		Exams 10 - 15%
Quizzes: objective and essay examinations
Other: Includes any assessment tools that do not logically fit into the above categories.		Other Category 10 - 15%
Group and individual presentations; participation; field trip or alternative assignment

Representative Textbooks and Materials:

The Norton Book of Nature Writing. Ed Robert Finch and John Elder.

  W.W. Norton, 2002 or most current edition.

Literature and the Environment. Ed. Lorraine Anderson, Scott Slovic,

  And John P. O'Grady. Longman, 1999 (Classic).

 

The following texts are all classics in the field:

Walden. Henry David Thoreau. 1854

Prairyerth. William Least Heat-Moon. 1991

A Friend of the Earth.  T.C. Boyle 2000

Walking. Henry David Thoreau. 1863

The Mountains of California. John Muir. 1894

The Land of Little Rain. Mary Austin. 1903

Silent Spring. Rachel Carson. 1962

Sand County Almanac. Aldo Leopold. 1949

Desert Solitaire. Edward Abbey. 1968

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Annie Dillard 1974

Turtle Island. Gary Snyder. 1974

Arctic Dreams. Barry Lopez. 1986

New and Selected Poems. Mary Oliver. 1992

Refuge. Terry Tempest Williams. 1992

The Control of Nature. John McPhee. 1989

Ceremony. Leslie Marmon Silko. 1977

My Antonia. Willa Cather. 1918

That Distant Land.  Wendell Berry.  2002

Print PDF