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Intermediate Composition (205-0-20)

Topic

Nature & the Nature of Argument

Instructors

Kathleen Carmichael
847/467-5592
555 Clark, Room 239
Office Hours: By appointment

Meeting Info

Parkes Hall 224: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

In the latter half of the twentieth century, the time-honored genre of nature writing saw the emergence of a parallel literary tradition: Writing (and other media) devoted to drawing the world's attention to impending environmental catastrophe - and the steps human beings could take to avert it. In this course, students will examine the intersection of these two genres - that of traditional nature writing and environmental activist texts - with an eye to developing a portfolio of writing and communication work that showcases their unique voices, rhetorical strategies, and perspectives on this critically important topic. We will consider how people come to develop felt relationships to the natural world and what rhetorical and activist strategies seem to have the greatest potential to spark positive change. To that end, students will be asked to keep a journal of observation and reflections on the natural world as a foundation for later research and argumentative work. Some classes and coursework will be conducted outside at a range of campus and off-campus locations, weather permitting, to allow for observation and reflection workshops.

Course readings/viewing will include some classics authors such as Rachel Carson and Ken Saro-Wiwa (winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize), as well as selections from more recent work by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Braiding Sweetgrass), Andreas Malm (How to Blow Up a Pipeline), Johan Eklöf (The Darkness Manifesto), Alan Weisman (The World Without Us), Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Florence Williams (The Nature Fix), Greta Thunberg, and Jonathan Franzen. We will also look at activist documentaries and consider practical topics such as how University library resources and experts can help students locate and evaluate key sources and develop authoritative arguments.

Class Materials (Required)

Braiding Sweetgrass. Robin Wall Kimmerer. ‎ Milkweed Editions; First Edition (August 11, 2015). ISBN-10 ‏: ‎ 1571313567

How to Blow up a Pipeline. Andreas Malm. Verso (January 5, 2021). ISBN-10: ‎ 1839760257

The Nature Fix. Florence Williams. W W Norton & Company (February 20, 2018). ISBN-10: 0393355578

The World Without Us. Alan Weisman. Picador; Reprint edition (August 5, 2008). ISBN-10 ‏: ‎ 0312427905

Writing With Power. Peter Elbow. Oxford UP (1998) ISBN 978-0195120189. This can be any edition, preferably used.

They Say / I Say. Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein. Norton (2010). ISBN 978-0393933611; any edition fine and used encouraged (though Norris will only stock 4th and latest edition). Students do NOT need the version with readings.

Understanding Comics. Scott McCloud. William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (1994). ISBN 978-0060976255 (really any edition is fine)