Topics in German Literature and Culture (346-0-1)
Topic
Talking Trash: Managing Waste in Culture, Theory,
Instructors
Alexander John Holt
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-319: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
Contemporary climate activism and movements for degrowth and sustainable development have made us pay greater attention to our ecological footprint and the impact that our production of waste has on each other and the Earth's ecosystems. Alongside this growing public concern for political ecology and environmental justice, artists, writers, filmmakers, and theorists have drawn on various kinds of ‘trash' (e.g., debris, dirt, sewage, litter, spam, as well as ‘trashy' individuals or places) in their metaphoricity and often threatening materiality, as tools for critiquing ossified aesthetic standards, anthropocentrism, globalization, and ecological damage. This course will provide insight into what has been termed the 'environmental humanities' through the lens of trash, tracing its varying manifestations from the nineteenth-century figure of the ragpicker to today's spam-generating botnets. Writers and artists discussed will include Walter Benjamin, Amitav Ghosh, Donna Haraway, Wolfgang Hilbig, Hito Steyerl, and Christa Wolf.
Learning Objectives
- Analyze the formal features of a wide range of media, spanning from literary and theoretical texts to films and art objects;
- Compare and contrast various theoretical, literary, and artistic approaches to a common object or theme;
- Describe, critique, and weigh the strengths and weaknesses of scholarly arguments and journalistic accounts;
Teaching Method
Seminar
Evaluation Method
Class participation
Papers
Presentations
Writing assignments
Class Materials (Required)
None
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area