EHUM 5000/5001 (HON) / Environmental Humanities and Transformative Justice Certificate Capstone
Dr. Melissa Parks, Communication
This is the capstone course for the undergraduate certificate Environmental Humanities and Transformative Justice that synthesizes environmental and social justice theories across disciplines and contexts. As a community-engaged course, it also provides opportunities for students to practically apply their knowledge, test their skills, and take action through service projects planned in reciprocal partnership with local community organizations.
EHUM 6105 / Writing
Ataya Cesspooch, Annie Clark Tanner Fellow in Environmental Humanities
Indigenous Land, Life, and Power
Land plays a central role within the field of Indigenous studies. It is deeply imbricated with Indigenous identity, culture, and language and undergirds struggles for sovereignty within settler colonial regimes. Yet, the multifaceted nature of Land evades easy containment. This course will examine how Indigenous authors across Turtle Island articulate theories of Land through the written word. We will explore reverberations of Land as source, Land as body, and Land as power across a variety of genres, including poems, novels, and creative non-fiction, paying attention to form and methodology.
EHUM 6850_001 / GNDR 6960 Black Feminist Geographies
Dr. Andrea Baldwin, Dept of Ethnic, Gender & Disability Studies
This interdisciplinary graduate seminar explores the intersections of Black feminist thought, geography, and ecology across global contexts. It centers Black women’s spatial practices, ecological knowledge systems, poetics, and resistance movements in relation to land, diaspora, climate, and colonial extraction. Drawing from scholarly texts, poetry, digital media, and art, students will engage with questions such as: How do Black feminist geographies trouble dominant mappings of space and belonging? What ecological wisdoms emerge through Black feminist practice, memory, and futurity? The course foregrounds the work of Caribbean, African, Afro-Indigenous, and diasporic thinkers, with particular attention to speculative, embodied, and land-based knowledge.
EHUM 6850_002 / LAW 7210 Environmental Justice
Ruhan Nagra, JD, Law
This discussion-based course begins by exploring the foundations, principles, and histories of the environmental justice movement. We will then evaluate different tools and strategies for advancing environmental justice, including litigation, policy work, regulatory reform, and grassroots organizing. Drawing on what we've learned about the benefits and limitations of these approaches to environmental justice, we will consider selected topics and case studies in the field.
EHUM 6860_001
Dr. Jeff Rose, Parks, Rec & Tourism
In this interdisciplinary, community-engaged seminar, we will consider the ways in which various constructions of place are informed by dominant narratives of whiteness, patriarchy, colonialism, capitalism, extractivism, and dominionism, among others. Simultaneously, we will center and consider narratives that have often been underrepresented in academia, favoring place-based scholarship, engagements, and activism from both the Global South and from various marginalized populations within the Global North. In addition to having many of the features of traditional seminar course, this semester take part in a collaborative community-based research project, where community engagement is a method, a pedagogy, and an experience, among others.
EHUM 6900_001 Field Study
EHUM 6101 / Foundations in Environmental Humanities
Dr. Andrea Baldwin, Gender Studies
This graduate seminar explores foundational debates as well as theoretical and methodological frameworks in the Environmental Humanities through global and decolonial lenses. Centering ecological knowledge systems, cultural practices, and philosophies rooted in Indigenous and diasporic traditions, the course challenges Eurocentric conceptions of nature, ecology, and the human. We ask: What new possibilities emerge when dominant environmental narratives are unsettled? How do storytelling, art, and activism shape ecological thinking and praxis? Through interdisciplinary texts, collaborative dialogue, and creative-critical projects, students will examine how environmental issues are deeply entangled with histories of colonialism, racialization, gendered violence, and resistance.
EHUM 6102 / Research Methods in Environmental Humanities
This class is designed to introduce some of the research methods available to scholars of environmental humanities. As an inherently interdisciplinary field, environmental humanities has no predetermined or required research methods. Indeed environmental humanities scholars employ a variety of approaches determinded by their research questions. By examining a set of exemplary texts - or "touchstones" - that draw on one or more of these approaches, we will aim for a better understanding of how different research methods can enhance the pursuit of environmentally-oriented projects.
EHUM 6804 / Tertulia
Dr. Danielle Endres, Communication
Tertulia is an opportunity to engage in discussion about a variety of current events and topics in the environmental humanities and in our community. Tertulia provides a space for professional development, building community among EH students, and engaging with the University and Salt Lake communities. Our class will include participating in events on/off campus, discussion sessions, field trips, and guest presenters. Students will also complete assignments in support of professional development.
EHUM 6805 / Community-Based Research Praxis
Dr. Danielle Endres, Communication
This one-credit course is encouraged for Environmental Humanities students involved in community-engaged research and is mandatory for those with funding for such research. It offers a supportive space to learn best practices, reflect on experiences, and build a supportive network. This course, which may be repeated up to four times, complements EHUM 6860 Place, Race and the Environment by focusing on the practical application of the theoretical foundation provided in the seminar course.
EHUM 6850/ HIST 6360 Issues in Environmental Humanities
EHUM 5000 / Environmental Humanities and Transformative Justice Certificate Capstone
Dr. Melissa Parks, Communication
This certificate capstone course synthesizes environmental and social justice theories across disciplines and contexts. As a community-engaged course, it also provides opportunities for students to practically apply their knowledge, test their skills, and take action through service projects planned in partnership with local community organizations. In working with community-based partners, students will gain a deeper understanding of theory; translate theory into real-world practice; critically reflect on field-based experiences; and further develop the knowledge and skills needed to address local social and environmental needs. Students will be presented with opportunities to integrate their major area of study with both the interdisciplinary arena of environmental justice and models of community engagement.
EHUM 6804 / Tertulia
Dr. Danielle Endres, Communication
Tertulia is an opportunity to engage in discussion about a variety of current events and topics in the environmental humanities and in our community. Tertulia provides a space for professional development, building community among EH students, and engaging with the University and Salt Lake communities. Our class will include participating in events on/off campus, discussion sessions, field trips, and guest presenters. Students will also complete assignments in support of professional development.
EHUM 6805 / Community-Based Research Praxis
Dr. Danielle Endres, Communication and Fiona Summers, Environmental Humanities
This new one-credit course is encouraged for Environmental Humanities students involved in community-engaged research and is mandatory for those with funding for such research. It offers a supportive space to learn best practices, reflect on experiences, and build a supportive network. This course, which may be repeated up to four times, complements EHUM 6860 by focusing on the practical application of the theoretical foundation provided in the seminar course, EHUM 6860 Place, Race and the Environment.
EHUM 6105 / Writing
Ataya Cesspooch, Annie Clark Tanner Fellow in Environmental Humanities
Indigenous Land, Life, and Power
Land plays a central role within the field of Indigenous studies. It is deeply imbricated with Indigenous identity, culture, and language and undergirds struggles for sovereignty within settler colonial regimes. Yet, the multifaceted nature of Land evades easy containment. This course will examine how Indigenous authors across Turtle Island articulate theories of Land through the written word. We will explore reverberations of Land as source, Land as body, and Land as power across a variety of genres, including poems, novels, and creative non-fiction, paying attention to form and methodology. Our inquiry will center on the following interconnected questions: What forms of power and legal orders emerge from Land? How do these forms of power structure Indigenous life and impact Indigenous bodies? And what are the implications for understanding Land across seemingly incommensurate epistemologies? We will attend to these questions through the lens of Indigenous feminisms with a focus on Indigenous futurity. Students will gain an understanding of key debates in the field of critical Indigenous studies and become versed in methods of writing with the Land that will be useful across disciplines.
EHUM 6850/ECS 6619/ Issues in Environmental Humanities
Indigenous Epistomologies in Education
Dr. Cynthia Benally, Education, Culture & Society
While the concept of epistemology is a Western construct, it has gained traction in Indigenous academic research, policy, and practice. The area of Indigenous epistemologies, while borrowing from this trajectory, moves in a different direction. One of the seminar's central goals is to examine how Indigenous epistemologies inform culturally relevant curriculum at different levels of schooling, teaching, and learning. We will focus on the impact of Indigenous epistemologies on areas such as language and literacy, science education, teacher training, student learning, higher education, and intellectual production in the context of the United States.
EHUM 6850/ CLCS 6900/ Issues in Environmental Humanities
Ecocriticism
Dr. Katharina Gerstenberger, World Languages and Cultures
Going back to the 1970's, ecocriticism is typically defined as the literary engagement with questions of the environmental. Drawing on feminist as well as Marxist theory, the field has since grown to inclue historical perspectives, economic considerations, anthropological inquiries, queer ecologies and philosophy. Of central concern is the relationship between humans and nature, with some scholars calling for the rejection of the dichotomy altogether. Readings include theoretical texts as well as a selection of literary texts and films that address environmental issues.
EHUM 6860 / Practices in Community-Engaged Learning
Place, Race and the Environment
Dr. Jeff Rose, Parks, Rec & Tourism
In this interdisciplinary, community-engaged seminar, we will consider the ways in which various constructions of place are informed by dominant narratives of whiteness, maleness, settler colonialism, capitalism, heterosexism, extractivism, and dominionism, among others. Simultaneously, we will center and consider narratives that have often been underrepresented in academia, favoring place-based scholarship, engagements, activism, and artistry from both the Global South and from various marginalized populations within the Global North. In addition to having many of the features of traditional seminar course, this semester will invite students to experience a collaborative community-engaged project outside of the traditional academic setting, where community engagement is a method, a pedagogy, and an experience, among others.
EHUM 6900_001/ Field Study
Dr. Melissa Parks, Communication
This course takes us out into the environment to explore complex, place-based issues. Our Spring 25 course will focus on the complicated intersections of preservation, conservation, and public use. What ecologies warrant preservation? What ecocultural formations deserve status as “monuments”? What does it mean to “manage” wilderness? How should public lands be preserved? How might we (re)envision access on “public” lands? Whose narratives have shaped these complex conversations? And, whose voices have been overlooked? In order to explore these and other interrelated questions, we will examine scholarly research alongside real-world application and negotiation of policies, politics, and advocacy. To do so, we will focus on Capitol Reef—a unique landscape made up of stunning red rock, deeply rooted indigenous histories, and politics of preservation, recreation, and ecology. We will ultimately travel to Capitol Reef National Park for a long weekend at the Utah Valley University Capitol Reef Field Station, where we will examine preservation, conservation, and public use in-situ.
EHUM 6101 / Foundations in Environmental Humanities
Dr. Brett Clark, Sociology, Environmental & Sustainability Studies, Environmental Humanities
Foundations is designed to introduce students to the broad foundations of environmental thought; it is a survey of cultural, ethical, historical, social, communication, and literary perspectives representing environmental humanities inquiry. Emphasis is placed on theoretical and research traditions. We will study an array of themes, issues, questions, and debates within the humanities and sciences. We will explore how human societies affect the environment, and how human societies are shaped by the environment, as well as how we come to recognize and understand changing environmental conditions. We will address issues associated with knowledge, meaning, justice, crisis, and sustainability.
At the end of the class the student will be able: 1) to evaluate major debates and perspectives within environmental thought; 2) to explicate concepts and ideas associated with the major paradigms; 3) to detail the historical development of environmental thought; 4) to apply different theories to the social and natural world; 5) to develop an informed perspective and approach to evaluate contemporary environmental problems, issues associated with justice/equality, and society/nature relationships; and (6) to propose paths of transformation and alternative futures.
EHUM 6102 / Research Methods in Environmental Humanities
Dr. Angela Robinson, Gender Studies, Environmental Humanities
Field Methods is the second foundational course for the Environmental Humanities Program; it is designed to introduce the research methods available to scholars of the environmental humanities. As an inherently interdisciplinary field, environmental humanities has no predetermined or required research methods. Indeed, environmental humanities scholars employ a variety of analytical approaches that are determined by the scale, scope, and content of their research questions. By examining a set of exemplary texts – or “touchstones” – that draw on one or more of these approaches, we will aim for a better understanding of how and in what ways different research methods can enhance the pursuit of environmentally-oriented projects. Unlike traditional methods classes, you will not emerge with expertise in a particular methodology. Rather, as our reading and discussion schedule indicates, you will receive an introductory base of knowledge about different methods (e.g., ecocriticism, ethnography, visual studies, creative non-fiction), and our expectation is that you will use this knowledge to develop and articulate your own methodological focus.
EHUM 6804 / Tertulia
Dr. Danielle Endres, Communication
Tertulia is an opportunity to engage in discussion about a variety of current events and topics in the environmental humanities and in our community. Tertulia provides a space for professional development, building community among EH students, and engaging with the University and Salt Lake communities. Our class will include participating in events on/off campus, discussion sessions, field trips, and guest presenters. Students will also complete assignments in support of professional development.
⇒ EHUM 6805 / Community-Based Research Praxis
Dr. Danielle Endres, Communication and Fiona Summers, Environmental Humanities
This new one-credit course is encouraged for Environmental Humanities students involved in community-engaged research and is mandatory for those with funding for such research. It offers a supportive space to learn best practices, reflect on experiences, and build a supportive network. This course, which may be repeated up to four times, complements EHUM 6860 by focusing on the practical application of the theoretical foundation provided in the seminar course.
EHUM 6850/ENGL 6810 / Issues in Environmental Humanities
AI and the Environment
Dr. Elizabeth Callaway, English
Artificial intelligence permeates every aspect of our lives, but our lives are not the limit of its reach. The applications of AI extend beyond the human to touch the lives of the plants and animals with whom we share the planet. While tech developers and popular journalism tend to view AI as either an environmental savior or an environmental destroyer, in this class we will use fictional accounts of nonhuman intelligence to explore how the environmental crisis and the current deployment of AI are related in complex ways. Science fiction texts reveal, for example, how risky AI and environmental crisis are twinned, stemming from the same underlying economic model that prioritizes growth over thoughtful, considered development. Literary analysis also highlights how these two emergencies share a rhetorical problem in which harms are positioned as being a problem for the future, obscuring the damage occurring right now. Finally, science fiction models a helpful shift in focus away from how to build a less harmful tool toward the concepts and frameworks that underly technologies and determine what kinds of tools are even possible.
EHUM 6105 / Writing
Dr. Darci Deangelo, Annie Clark Tanner Fellow and Anthropology, University of Oklahoma
Pests, Pets, and Parasites
This interdisciplinary course will follow those nonhuman animals that humans want to forget: rodents, roaches, ticks, worms, and fleas. Its course materials will draw from film, history, biology, art, and anthropology to show human-pest relations and how they change across space and time. While humans think of companion animals as the canines by our sides, they forget our humanity affords other coevolutionary friends like rats who became viral vectors when modes of production changed and colonialism emerged. Such an investigation will show how interrelated human-nonhuman worlds are and will provide insight into being human itself. The course will provide the students an opportunity to produce nonfiction writing about these animals. Required fieldtrips will be incorporated into each of the four units and required peer review workshops will complete each unit.
EHUM 6804 / Tertulia
Dr. Danielle Endres, Communication
Tertulia is an opportunity to engage in discussion about a variety of current events and topics in the environmental humanities and in our community. Tertulia provides a space for professional development, building community among EH students, and engaging with the University and Salt Lake communities. Our class will include participating in events on/off campus, discussion sessions, field trips, and guest presenters. Students will also complete assignments in support of professional development.
EHUM 6850 / HIST 7670 Issues in Environmental Humanities
Global Environmental History
Dr. Chris Low, History and 2023-5 Environmental Humanities Research Professor
This course seeks to introduce students to the ways in which American environmental historians contributed to the rise of environmental history writing beyond the United States and Europe. On the one hand, the course introduces students to cutting-edge works exploring other a variety of world regions from Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia to polar regions like Antarctica. This broader exposure prepares students to teach non-US environmental courses and to be more open to taking advantage of exciting methodological developments unfolding beyond their home areas of specialization.
On the other hand, this course also really thinks seriously about how historians and humanists must grapple with unfamiliar geographical and temporal scales. While thoughtful students will immediately understand that climate change is a global or planetary question, most will not have any training that would prepare them to write about issues at these scales. Likewise, as environmental historians and humanists grapple with debates surrounding the periodization of climate change, increasingly definitions of the Anthropocene and competing theoretical frameworks simultaneously force us to consider both the entire planet and expand our conception of time from more conventional chunks like decades and centuries to the billions of years required the “deep time” of geological scales.
Thus, while humanists have a critical role in narrating the human and non-human agents of climate change, we also face unprecedented changes to the demands placed on our disciplinary and methodological toolkits. And while some of our work as historians might take place in the sheltered coves of our disciplinary specialisms, writing and teaching the stories of global climate change often finds us wading into unfamiliar waters. This requires us to engage with, collaborate alongside, and even compete with scientists, journalists, and writers of fiction in exciting and dauntingly novel ways.
EHUM 6860 / Practices in Community-Engaged Learning
Place, Race and the Environment
Dr. Jeff Rose, Parks, Rec & Tourism
In this interdisciplinary, community-engaged seminar, we will consider the ways in which various constructions of place are informed by dominant narratives of whiteness, maleness, settler colonialism, capitalism, heterosexism, extractivism, and dominionism, among others. Simultaneously, we will center and consider narratives that have often been underrepresented in academia, favoring place-based scholarship, engagements, activism, and artistry from both the Global South and from various marginalized populations within the Global North. In addition to having many of the features of traditional seminar course, this semester will invite students to experience a collaborative community-engaged project outside of the traditional academic setting, where community engagement is a method, a pedagogy, and an experience, among others.
EHUM 6900 /Special Topics - Field Study
Dr. Melissa Parks, Communication and Environmental Humanities
Since settler-colonial westward expansion in the Americas, the desert has been a contested landscape, dominantly viewed by new arrivals as a wasteland. These other-worldly landscapes have served as nuclear test sites for the federal government, landfills for faraway coastal cities, sites of mining and other forms of extraction, and are continually proposed as nuclear waste storage facilities. In this course, we will consider the ways in which the desert is reframed in interdisciplinary literature from wasteland to wonderland—and explore the many different artistic, philosophical, and political perceptions of this concept. Ultimately, we will travel to the Utah desert for a three-day excursion during which we can experience and reflect on the desert wonderland—whatever that may mean—for ourselves.
The Environmental Humanities Program encourages students to explore courses in other departments within the College of Humanities and to consult University of Utah’s course schedules.