Detailed Course Information |
Spring 2012
May 02,2024 |
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| LIBS 660 - THE ENVIRONMENT & AMER CULTURE |
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The United States has been blessed, from its first days as a wilderness inhabited only by native Americans, by an extraordinary natural environment. Although certainly inhospitable to the earliest settlers, this environment affected "The New World" profoundly, shaping the burgeoning society growing between its shores by its power, grandeur, enormity, richness and magnificence--From the Puritans to contemporary artists and writers, Americans have continued to respond to this profundity by creating a literature, a cultural heritage of images in art, music and film, which continues to reflect our involvement with nature. Indeed, our natural environment remains a major source of our national identity. This course explores this national identity as it is expressed through our culture, from the beginnings of our explorations to the present. We consider how our environmental experience is reflected in our literary/visual responses to it. These responses are affected in turn by the evolving concepts of man, as well as temporal cultural, political and ideological forces. We will examine how the history of our interaction with our environment has shaped the history of our national literature and cultural responses--how definitions of "nature" and the "wilderness" change from era to era, often as reflections of evolving national self-image. The course will address these issues through a combination of assigned group readings, individual seminar presentations on paintings, films, slides, music, photography, individual readings. There will also be a required museum visit, an extensive individual research presentation, and a weekly "practicum" in environmental perception.
0.000 TO 3.000 Credit hours 0.000 TO 3000.000 Lecture hours Levels: Graduate Liberal Studies Department Course Attributes: MLS COURSE FOR GRAD FEE ASSESS Restrictions: Must be enrolled in one of the following Majors: Liberal Studies Non-Degree-MALS |
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