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Rhet 8520 (#13499) W 4:15-6:35 p.m. Coffey Hall 125 |
Dr. Dan Philippon Fall 2000 3 credits |
--Clifford Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures (p. 127)
"A way of seeing is also a way of not seeing."
--Kenneth Burke, Permanence and Change (p. 49)
An informed understanding of environmental issues requires knowledge of and from what C. P. Snow famously termed the "two cultures." It requires knowledge of the principles and concepts of science, knowledge of what scientists call the "human dimensions," and knowledge of the interaction between these ways of knowing. This course is an interdisciplinary survey of the content of and interaction between two specific aspects of these ways of knowing: the science of ecology and the concept of multiculturalism.
We will begin by examining the history and present state of ecology, both as a science and as an ideology. We will then explore how ecology and environmental issues are perceived through various "worldviews," or ways of knowing informed by aspects of personal, social, and cultural identity. Some of the identifiers we will discuss include race, class, gender, religion, nationality, and region, and some of the topics we will treat include Native Americans and the myth of the "Ecological Indian," women and the ecofeminist movement, the "greening" of world religions, and the effect of globalization on regional, national, and global environments. As we explore these issues, we will also consider three related questions: how do reason and emotion interact to make ways of knowing possible, how do ethics and aesthetics relate to these ways of knowing, and how does rhetoric influence how people communicate these ways of knowing?
Last Modified: 3 August 2000