Environmental Justice

Catalog description

This course introduces students to the concepts, contexts, and conflicts of environmental justice, both in the U.S. and globally. After covering some general history and theoretical frameworks, the course is organized according to six cases studies (Love Canal, Hurricane Katrina, Hydro-Quebec, US migrant farmworkers, Bhopal, and Ogoniland). Throughout this interdisciplinary course based in the environmental humanities, students will make connections among various kinds of information sources (literary, documentary, ecocritical, theoretical, ethical, historical, etc.). For the final course project, students will create their own environmental justice case study, based on a case not covered in class, and with their choice of relevant literary text, documentary film, and background readings. Satisfies a requirement for the Environmental Studies major Satisfies a requirement for the Environmental Studies minor Satisfies the Cultural Diversity requirement