Environmental Humanities Minor

HFA PEAK

Through the minor in Environmental Humanities, students develop skills in humanistic inquiry while also considering how writers, philosophers, and other theorists have represented the relationship between human and non-human nature. Acknowledging that addressing environmental issues requires understanding and skills that emerge from many disciplines, courses engage students in multidisciplinary study as they analyze environmental ideas. Students minoring in Environmental Humanities encounter a range of theoretical approaches to a variety of dominant and non-dominant cultural expressions, exploring them as manifestations, creations, and interrogations of the human/nonhuman-nature relationship. Exposure to the fine arts ensures that students actively engage with the creative process. Students majoring in Environmental Studies may not minor in Environmental Humanities; students not majoring in Environmental Studies might consider pursuing the Environmental Science, Geography, or Geosciences minors to complement the Environmental Humanities minor.

Minor Requirements

16-19 credits

Introduction to Environmental Interdisciplinarity (3 credits)

Complete one course.

ENV-201	Knowing Birds	3 credits
ENV-202	Knowing Land	3 credits
ENV-203	Knowing Water	3 credits

Encountering Environmental Literature and Ideas (3 credits)

ENG-239

Visions of Environment

3 credits

Encountering Environmental Ethics (3 credits)

Complete one course.

ENV-305	Natural History and Ethics at the Museum	3 credits
PHI-210	Human Nature and the Scientific Worldview	3 credits
PHI-340	Environmental Philosophy	3 credits
REL-348	Religion and Science	3 credits

Environmental Humanities Electives (6-7 credits)

Complete two courses.

ENG-255	Topics in Literature—British	3 credits
ENG-265	Topics in Literature—American	3 credits
HIS-204	History of the Modern U.S.	3 credits
HIS-305	The Presence of the Past: Intro to Public Hist	3 credits
HIS-307	The American West	3 credits
IND-305.2	Winter Wilderness Experience	4 credits
IND-332	London: Art/History/Literature	3 credits

Creative Activity Requirement (1–3 credits)

Complete 1-3 credits from the approved Creative Activities courses.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this minor, students will be able to:

1) Analyze how literary history conveys changing understandings of the relationship between humanity and the more-than-human world;

2) Communicate how both canonical and non-canonical works of philosophy and literature manifest environmental values;

3) Demonstrate familiarity with key works in the history of environmental thought, including those produced by female, minority, queer, or otherwise marginalized writers; and

4) Produce a piece of creative writing that engages environmental history, philosophy, or ethics.