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Rhet 8525 (#179031) Th 3:35-6:05 p.m. 125 Coffey Hall 4 credits Winter 1999 |
Instructor: Dan Philippon Office: 78 ClaOff Office Hrs.: Tu/Th 1:30-3:00 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 the field trips to the Weisman, the Bell Museum, and Como Zoo, all of which will be held during class time, is required.
An important part of your participation in this course will be the sharing and analysis of "found objects"--a kind of scholarly show-and-tell--during each class meeting. 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 (1) illustrates the intersection of language, culture, and nature and (2) can be analyzed rhetorically. (If it would help us each to have a photocopy of this item, please make sixteen copies in advance.) This should not be an object you grab at the last minute, but an interesting artifact of environmental discourse you train yourself to identify prior to each class meeting.
2. Leading Discussion (15%): 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 (see below).
3. Weekly E-mail Responses (15%):Another important part of this course is the series of eight 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 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 responses 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 Thursday, with the exception of our last class. Because we all need time to be able to read and process these responses before class, missing or late response papers will receive a failing grade. Please plan your reading accordingly.
In addition to these email responses, please submit a 1- to 2-page intellectual autobiography, explaining who you are, where you've been, and where you're going. I am less interested (in this case) in your physical travels than in your intellectual ones--in the life of your mind. 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 quarter. If you were not able to prepare this intellectual autobiography for the first class meeting, please bring it to the second class meeting.
4. Circumlectio (15%): Circumlectio means "reading around" in Latin. For your circumlectio, you should choose two books you have not read from the bibliography I will distribute--or from one of the "Subject Bibliographies" on the ASLE web site--and send an email report about these to the class. One of these books should be "analytical"; the other, "literary." Your report should take the form of a 600-word (two printed pages, double-spaced) summary and analysis of each book (1,200 words total). Your first book is due by 9 a.m. on Monday, February 8, and your second book is due by 9 a.m. on Monday, February 15, so that we will all be able to read your reports in time for class.
5. 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. Roughly speaking, I expect a publication-quality paper, 16 to 24 pages long. I also encourage web-based, collaborative, and mixed-media projects, although I must approve them in advance based on a detailed written proposal. 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 conference presentation, a dissertation chapter, a journal article, a professional report, or some other achievement worthy of mention on your c.v. Your final project is due by 4:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 18. Late projects will be accepted only by prior arrangement, but I encourage the submission of outlines, abstracts, and partial or complete drafts. 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 1:30 to 3:00 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: rhet8525@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
Introduction |
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| 1/7 | Th | Paradise Consumed: Myth, Metaphor, and the Transformation of Nature Read: Cronon, Front Matter and "Introduction" (Cronon 1-56) Merchant, "Reinventing Eden" (Cronon 132-59) Barbour, "Ecological Fragmentation in the Fifties" (Cronon 233-55) Ellis, "On the Search for a Root Cause" (Cronon 256-68) Haraway, "Universal Donors in a Vampire Culture" (Cronon 321-66) Albums of "Found Objects" (Cronon, throughout) (166 pp.) |
Part One: Discourses |
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| 1/14 | Th | The Word Topics: speech, radio, periodicals, and books Discussion Leaders: Beth Chrobot and Steve Claas Read: Abram, Spell of the Sensuous, chs. 4-7, coda (182 pp.) Note: Ideally, we would read all of Abram, and I strongly encourage you to do this if you are at all philosophically inclined. Select: Two movies you would like to consider watching for class on 1/28 |
| 1/21 | Th | The Image (meet in the lobby of the Weisman Art Museum) Topics: landscape, wildlife, and botanical images in painting and photography Read: Barbara Novak, Nature and Culture, pts. 1-3 (200 pp., with pictures) Thomas Cole, "Essay on American Scenery" Select: Two books for Circumlectio project by today |
| 1/28 | Th | The Web Topics: film, television, virtual reality, cyberspace, the Internet, advertising Discussion Leaders: Jenni Swenson and Kirk Mona Read: Wilson, "Introduction" (11-17) Wilson, ch. 4, "Looking at the Non-Human" (117-55) Hayles, "Simulated Nature and Natural Simulations" (Cronon 409-25) Mander, "The Walling of Awareness" (Anderson , et al. 205-14) (74 pp.) Lowell Monke, Computers at School: The Web and the Plow David Ehrenfeld, "Pseudocommunities" Visit: A Civil Action (official site) and Beyond A Civil Action (W.R. Grace reaction) |
Part Two: Practices |
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| 2/4 | Th | Hunting, Farming, and Working Topics: hunting, fishing, farming, gardening, eating, working, living Discussion Leaders: Devin Corbin and Curt Leitz Read: White, "Are You an Environmentalist...?" (Cronon 171-85) Anderson, et al., pt. 2, "Close Encounters" (63-114) Anderson, et al., pt. 3, "Hunting and Fishing" (115-62) Anderson, et al., pt. 7, "Getting and Spending" (355-401) (162 pp.) Note: Circumlectio #1 due by 9 a.m. on Monday, 2/8 |
| 2/11 | Th | Migration and Habitation Topics: regionalism, urban/rural issues, suburban sprawl, ecotourism, cultural geography, the rhetoric of place Discussion Leaders: Cameron Esslemont and Pasi Kaskinen Read: Wilson, ch. 1, "The View from the Road" (19-51) Wilson, ch. 3, "Nature at Home" (53-115) Di Chiro, "Nature as Community" (Cronon 298-320) Anderson, et al., pt. 5, "Visions of Home" (222-96) (157 pp.) Note: Circumlectio #2 due by 9 a.m. on Monday, 2/15 |
Part Three: Institutions |
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| 2/18 | Th | The Natural History Museum (meet in the lobby of the Bell Museum) Read: Lawrence Weschler, Mr. Wilson's Cabinet of Wonder (163 pp.) Definitions of Museums Visit: The Museum of Jurassic Technology The House on the Rock |
| 2/25 | Th | The Garden, the Park, and the Wilderness Discussion Leaders: Rich Smith, Jan Koenen, and Karl Lorenz Read: Wilson, ch. 2, "Nature Education and Promotion" (53-87) Cronon, "The Trouble with Wilderness" (Cronon 69-90) Spirn, "Constructing Nature" (Cronon 91-113) Slater, "Amazonia as Edenic Narrative" (Cronon 114-31) Proctor, "Whose Nature?" (Cronon 269-97) Olwig, "Reinventing Common Nature" (Cronon 379-408) (157 pp.) |
| 3/4 | Th | The Zoo, the Circus, the Aquarium, and the Theme Park (meet at Como Zoo) Discussion Leaders: Linda Ritter and Kimberly Byrd Read: Wilson, ch. 5, "Technological Utopias" (157-90) Wilson, ch. 6, "City and Country" (193-220) Wilson, ch. 7, "From Reserve to Microenvironment" (223-55) Price, "Looking for Nature at the Mall" (Cronon 186-203) Davis, "Touch the Magic" (Cronon 204-217) (131 pp.) |
Conclusion |
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| 3/11 | Th | Last Class Read: Anderson, et al., pt. 9, "Peril and Response" (450-503) Harrison, "Toward a Philosophy of Nature" (Cronon 426-37) "Toward a Conclusion" (Cronon 447-59) (79 pp.) Prepare: Progress Report on Final Project (Due by 4:30 p.m. on 3/18) |