CSCT 2Z03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: William Cronon, Ecological Humanities, Screensaver

• School: McMaster University
• Department: Cultural Studies and Critical Theory
• Course: CSCT 2Z03
• Professor: Susie O' Brien

Document Summary

The environmental humanities (cid:498)art and literature can touch an individual"s heart and soul. )t can force people to see, and more importantly it can make people feel(cid:499). Challenges scientific assumptions of a nature that can be (cid:498)out there(cid:499), and be objectively studied. Focus on the inextricable connection between nature and culture. Recognize environmental problems as matter not just of material process but also feelings, values and beliefs. We have to think of nature within relationship to our culture- because we recognize that the environment affects us and we affect it. The environmental humanities often focuses on art and literature, recognizing these kinds of representations as sites where the subjective and affective (emotional) aspects of nature are foregrounded. All representations, literary and non- literary, factual and fictional, emerge from particular histories and reflect particular beliefs, values and assumptions, which are often unstated because they are understood to be (cid:498)common sense(cid:499). Railroad image- nature is pushing its way through.