Radical Romanticism: Progressive Democratic, Environmental, and Religious Traditions

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To what extent does Romanticism inform progressive democratic, environmental, and religious traditions and cultures in the U.S.? We will explore the sustained legacies of a particular strand of Romanticism, namely, radical Romanticism: an aesthetic tradition and way of life that seeks to cultivate perspectives, practices, and affect that bring dignity and justice to the human and the more-than-human worlds. Special attention will be given to the interrelated topics of democracy, the environment, and religion when reading such authors as Henry David Thoreau, Frederick Douglass, Walt Whitman, Zora Neale Hurston, W.E.B. Du Bois, Terry-Tempest Williams, Leslie Silko.