Intermediate Composition (205-0-1)

Topic

Nature & the Nature of Argument

Instructors

Kathleen Carmichael
847/467-5592
555 Clark, Room 239
Office Hours: By appointment
Kathleen Carmichael is a Professor of Instruction with the Cook Family Writing Program for which she teaches courses in literature, composition, and engineering communication. Her instructional strategies are informed by past work as a securities analyst, public relations specialist, and educational consultant. Her interests include the rhetoric of public policy (especially in the healthcare sector), literatures of addiction, and the ways that scientific endeavor has been represented in popular media from the Enlightenment to the present.

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 3-410: 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 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 will be held outside at a range of campus (and possibly off-campus) locations, weather permitting, to allow for in-class observation and reflection workshops.

Course readings/viewing will include some classics including 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, and Greta Thunberg (The Climate Book). We will also look at activist documentaries such as Cooked: Survival by Zip Code and consider practical topics such as how University library resources and experts can help students locate and evaluate key sources and develop authoritative arguments.

Evaluation Method

This course uses a collaborative assessment model that encourages experimentation with the writing process and product. Assignments will include regular journal work, three major papers, and one group research project. All papers will be written in stages and revised. Quarter grades will cover writing (approximately 70%) and class participation (30%,including attendance and in-class presentations).

Class Materials (Required)

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

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.

Class Notes

Students will be asked to keep a notebook for handwritten field observations and in-class writing.

Enrollment Requirements

Enrollment Requirements: REASON: Pre-registration is not allowed for this class. Please try again during regular registration.