Microbial Cultures and Ecologies

Catalog description

Hidden belowground or otherwise unseen, a tremendous diversity of fungi, bacteria, and other microorganisms drive carbon and nutrient cycling, process waste, shape global climate, impact public health, facilitate agriculture and food systems, and underlie several environmental justice and land-use issues. Despite their ubiquity, impact and intimate connection to us, these microbes are rarely foregrounded. How do we conceive of and connect with the invisible and belowground? How do we position ourselves in relation to decomposers, waste-processors, potential pathogens or partners, and other hidden organisms? How are various relations with microbes and microbial processes criminalized, stigmatized or endorsed culturally and politically? Where do we situate micro-organisms in biodiversity conservation and environmental protection? How do microbes shape climate and respond to global change? In this course, we will draw from scholarship in microbial ecology, conservation science, science and technology studies, environmental humanities, and the visual arts to explore these and other questions. Course readings include texts by Patricia Kaishian, Amber Benezra, Asterid Schrader, Donna Haraway, Anna Tsing and others. In addition to seminar discussions, we will engage in guided explorations of microbiomes, create a collaborative microbial biogeography reflecting our relationship to fungi and bacteria in surrounding ecosystems, and explore methods of culturing and visualizing microbial communities. Students will produce a final research project deepening their connection to a microbial taxa, community, or system of their choosing.