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Rhet 8520 (#12761) Tu 4:15-6:45 p.m. Coffey Hall 125 3 credits Fall 1999 |
Instructor: Dan Philippon Office: 78 ClaOff Office Hrs.: Tu/Th 2:30-4:00 p.m. Office Phone: 612-624-4209 Email: danp@tc.umn.edu |
1. Attendance and Participation (15%): This course will function as a seminar and will involve equal amounts of independent study and collaborative learning. You should consider it the intellectual equivalent of the Minnesota State Fair, or the "Great Minnesota Get-Together." Each week we will assemble for 2-1/2 hours (with a 15-minute break), bringing with us the results of our independent reading, thinking, and writing. In class I expect to encounter various kinds of exhibitions, demonstrations, creative activities, thrill rides, and fireworks (not to mention exotic foods, the wonders of technology, and occasional singing and dancing). In short, I expect only the best of what you have to offer. Your mind, your courtesy, and your sense of humor should all be operating in top form. Your regular attendance and active participation are, therefore, required. If you know in advance that you are going to be absent on a particular day, please let me know. Participation in any field trips held during class time is required; field trips held outside of class time are optional.
To help us get started, I would like you to submit a 1- to 2-page intellectual autobiography, explaining who you are, where you've been, and where you're going. I am particularly interested in the intersection of your physical travels with your intellectual ones. Please also explain your expectations for this class and how I can help you fulfill them. Use this as an opportunity not only to enlighten me about your personal story but also to establish your own focus for the semester. Please bring your autobiography to the second class meeting.
2. Weekly E-mail Responses (15%): Another important part of this course is the series of email responses you will write over the course of the term. These email responses serve three purposes: (1) they provide you with an opportunity to gather your thoughts in preparation for our class meetings; (2) they allow you develop your thinking about environmental rhetoric and ethics from week to week; and (3) they function as first drafts for your final project. These responses should be approximately 300 words long (one printed page, double-spaced) and should be thoughtful, considered reactions to the authors and arguments we are reading for that week. I encourage you to refer to the insights of other members of the class, but your responses should be based primarily on your own attention to and engagement with the texts. If you occasionally wish to write a bit more, you should feel free to do so, but aim for quality over quantity. Email responses are due by 9 a.m. every Tuesday, with the exception of the days when you will be submitting your annotated bibliography (10/12), book review (11/26), and final project (12/14). If you wish, you may also choose not to submit responses for two of the eleven classes for which they are due. Because we all need time to be able to read and process these responses before class, late and missing response papers (beyond the two exemptions) will receive no credit. Please plan your reading accordingly.
3. Leading Discussion (10%): For one class meeting, you will work with another student to lead class discussion of the text(s) prepared for that day. You may approach this assignment in any way you wish, but you will be expected to provide a 15-minute introduction and to direct our conversation in the ways you find most appropriate. Discussion leaders should consult with me before they plan their presentation and submit a discussion guide by email instead of their normal responses.
An important part of leading discussion will be the sharing and analysis of "found objects"--a kind of scholarly show-and-tell. A found object could be a newspaper or magazine article; advertisement; photograph; label or tag; brochure, booklet, or newsletter; video or audio clip; web page print-out (with site address); or any other portable object that illustrates the intersection of rhetoric, ethics, and the environment. If it would help us each to have a photocopy of these items, please make copies in advance.
4. Annotated Bibliography (10%): To help us all become better acquainted with the vast literature on rhetoric, ethics, and the environment, you should prepare an annotated bibliography of 10 titles relevant to your interests in the field and send it to the class via email. Your annotations need not be extensive; 50-100 words each is a good target. I will distribute a working bibliography for you to consult, and you should also explore the many bibliographical references available on the ASLE web site (see below). Your annotated bibliography is due by 9 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 11, so that we will all be able to read these compilations in time for class on Oct. 12.
5. Book Review (10%): For your book review, you should choose a book you have not read from the bibliographical resources above and send an email report about it to the class. Your report should take the form of a 600-word (two printed pages, double-spaced) summary and analysis. Your book review is due by 9 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 25, so that we will all be able to read your reports in time for class on Oct. 26.
6. Final Project (40%): Given the diversity of disciplines represented in this course, I will work individually with each of you to develop a final project appropriate to your interests and the goals of this course. You may, of course, submit a traditional seminar paper, from 16 to 24 pages long. Other possibilities for this project, however, include: a research prospectus for a master's thesis or doctoral dissertation; a syllabus for an undergraduate lecture course or seminar, with detailed discussion of pedagogical rationale; or a review essay on a major theme in environmental rhetoric and/or ethics, similar to what you submit for an oral or written preliminary exam. I also encourage web-based, collaborative, and mixed-media projects. In other words, I would be disappointed if you did not make plans to use this final project to fulfill some other academic goal--whether that be a programmatic requirement, a conference presentation, a dissertation chapter, a journal article, a professional report, or some other achievement worthy of mention.
A detailed two-page proposal of your project is due on Nov. 9. I would also be happy to review outlines, abstracts, and partial or complete drafts. Your final project is due by our last class on Dec. 14. Late projects will be accepted only by prior arrangement. Please keep a copy of all work you submit. If you choose to submit a paper for your final project, please note the following guidelines. Papers should be composed on a word processor, double-spaced with one-inch margins, numbered in the upper right-hand corner, and stapled in the upper left-hand corner. Your name, the course number, my name, and the date should appear at the top left of the first page, and your title should be centered on the next line. I expect you to place your ideas in conversation with those of other scholars; when you do so, you should use whatever citation style is appropriate to your discipline and/or needs (MLA, APA, Chicago). Please do not mix styles or create your own citation method.
Your writing for this course should be focused, well-organized, and free of errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation. As you will soon discover, I have little patience with what might be termed "postmodern prose"; I expect your writing to be nothing less than a model of brevity, clarity, and style. We will discuss the conventions of academic writing further in class, but for an example of how not to write for this course, see the Postmodernism Generator, a system for generating random text from recursive grammars: http://www.cs.monash.edu.au/cgi-bin/postmodern.
Being a graduate student means being both a student and a teacher, an admittedly awkward state of affairs. Keep in mind, however, that being a professor means exactly the same thing. Our primary goal in this class will be the creation of an intellectual community, in which we all must function as both teachers and learners. I encourage you to treat me and one another as equal partners in this endeavor. Indeed, I can think of no better professional goal--whatever your profession--than to become expert in the difficult task of balancing intelligence, knowledge, and preparation with humility, trust, and faith. Let us strive to achieve this goal together.
I strongly encourage you to stop by my office at some point during the semester, not only so that I can get to know you better as a person, but also so that we can talk in more detail about the subjects that interest you. I will be in my office before class on Thursdays from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m., and also on Tuesdays at the same time. If this time is inconvenient for you, please let me know, and we can arrange to meet at another time. The main reason I am here is to help you achieve your scholarly potential, so please take advantage of this opportunity and come see me.
I will award grades in this course according to the A-F system approved by the College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences:
I will do everything I can to accommodate students who have disabilities that may affect their participation in course activities or their fulfillment of course requirements. Please contact me if you have a disability, and we can discuss your individual needs. All requests will of course remain confidential.
The College of Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Sciences has defined scholastic misconduct broadly as any act that violates the rights of another student in academic work or that involves misrepresentation of your own work. Scholastic misconduct includes (but is not necessarily limited to) cheating on assignments or examinations; plagiarizing, which means misrepresenting as your own work any part of work done by another; submitting the same paper, or substantially similar papers, to meet the requirements of more than one course without the approval and consent of all instructors concerned; depriving another student of necessary course materials; or interfering with another student's work. I take this issue very seriously, as it involves fairness to authors and other students, your responsibility to do independent work, your respect for ownership rights, and the fundamental qualities of truthfulness, fidelity, and trust upon which an academic community is built. Any student found guilty of scholastic misconduct will automatically fail this course and be reported to the Scholastic Affairs Committee of the College.
Course Email List: rhet8520@plato.agricola.umn.edu
ASLE Web Site: http://www.asle.umn.edu/
Email responses and lecture notes can be accessed by clicking on the active links for each day's subject heading
| 9/7 | Tu | Introduction |
A Place for Stories: The Final Forest |
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| 9/14 | Tu | Washington State Read: Dietrich, 1-146 (146 pp.) Intellectual Autobiography due in class |
| 9/21 | Tu | Washington, D.C. Read: Dietrich, 147-289 (143 pp.) Environmental Rhetoric Bibliography |
Basic Concepts in Environmental Ethics |
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| 9/28 | Tu | Ecology, Economics, and Ethics Read: Callicott, preface, foreword, 1-43 Des Jardins, chapters 1, 2 & 3 (120 pp.) |
Case Studies in Environmental Rhetoric and Ethics |
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| 10/5 | Tu | Prairie Island: Nuclear Energy and Future Generations Read: Des Jardins, chapter 4 (34 pp.) Prairie Island Spent Fuel Storage |
| 10/12 | Tu | Minnesota Timberwolves: Responsibilities to Nature and to Animals Read: Des Jardins, chapters 5 & 6 (34 pp.) Note: Annotated Bibliography due by 9 a.m. on 10/11 |
| 10/19 | Tu | Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness: Biodiversity and Wilderness Read: Des Jardins, chapters 7 & 8 (46 pp.) |
| 10/26 | Tu | Highway 55/Hiawatha Avenue Corridor: Deep Ecology Read: Des Jardins, chapter 10 (22 pp.) The field. The fire. The fight. (City Pages) Protesters Storm Highway 55 (Minnesota Daily) Note: Book Review due by 9 a.m. on 10/25 |
| 11/2 | Tu | Wild Rice and Walleye: Non-Western Traditions Read: Callicott, 44-184 (140 pp.) letter from the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe to President Yudof article on the Chippewas' right to hunt and fish |
Toward Unity Among Environmentalists |
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| 11/9 | Tu | Environmental History Read: Norton, foreword, chapter 1, part one (100 pp.) Note: Final Project Proposal due in class |
| 11/16 | Tu | Environmental Policy Read: Norton, part two (83 pp.) |
| 11/23 | Tu | Environmental Philosophy Read: Norton, part three (68 pp.) (Begin reading Leopold and/or Williams over Thanksgiving Break) |
Telling Stories about Environmental Change: Narrative Ethics |
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| 11/30 | Tu | The Land Ethic Read: Aldo Leopold, A Sand County Almanac Des Jardins, chapter 9 (254 pp.) |
| 12/7 | Tu | Social Ecology and Ecofeminism Read: Terry Tempest Williams, Refuge Des Jardins, chapter 11 (320 pp.) |
| 12/14 | Tu | Last Class Read: Callicott, chapters 9 & 10 Des Jardins, epilogue (55 pp.) Final Projects Due |