HISTORY OF ENGLISH CULTURE

The course is part of the Core educational activities [B] for the English Studies and American Studies curricula of the LLEAP degree, and part of the Interdisciplinary activities [C] for the Literary Studies and Cultural Studies curricula of the Joint European Master Degree in English and American Literary and Cultural Studies. It aims at exploring diverse cultural phenomena in the English speaking world.

The final goal is to enable students to address cultural issues related to climate change from a theoretical perspective in a largely self-directed or autonomous manner.

Advanced reading, speaking and writing knowledge of English

“Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else”, says one of Oscar Wilde's characters. Today to talk about climate change and the predicament of our environment is an imperative issue of survival for the whole humankind. This course examines various cultural and activist responses (in poetry, film, art, ecocricitism) to this unprecedented ecological crisis, addressing what Amitav Ghosh calls our imaginative failure in the face of global warming.
Our aim is to examine contemporary cultural debates about global warming and climate change, as well as their intellectual roots in English-speaking countries. Students will acquire a basic knowledge and understanding of the main issues in ecocriticism and in the relationship between the humanities and climate change. They will acquire the ability to apply selected concepts, terms, and perspectives to literary and non literary texts. They will be invited to develop independent thinking and judgment on the relevant ecocritical issues. They will be encouraged to improve their communication skills in relation to the cultural discourse of ecocriticism.

Amitav Ghosh, THE GREAT DERANGEMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE AND THE UNTHINKABLE, The University of Chicago Press, 2016
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Raymond Williams, “Nature” (Moodle)*
Greg Garrard (ed.), THE OXFORD HANDBOOK OF ECOCRITICISM, 2014 (selections from Moodle)*
Naomi Klein, THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING: CAPITALISM VS. THE CLIMATE, Simon & Schuster, 2015 (selections from Moodle)*
Wangari Maathai, THE GREEN BELT MOVEMENT: SHARING THE APPROACH AND THE EXPERIENCE, Lantern Books, 2003 (selections from Moodle)*
Yuval Noah Harari, HOMO DEUS: A BRIEF HISTORY OF TOMORROW, Harvill Secker, 2016 (selections from Moodle)*
Cheryll Glotfelty & Harold Fromm (eds.), THE ECOCRITICISM READER: LANDMARKS IN LITERARY ECOLOGY, The University of Georgia Press, 1996 (selections from Moodle)*
Other selected texts available on the Moodle page*

The final written examination will include four open questions based on all assigned readings and class discussion. Students will be asked to briefly summarize the main ecocritical issues, and to recognize and define key concepts and terms associated with them. Students unable to attend classes (“non frequentanti”) are advised to see the instructor during his office hours or by appointment (not via email) for additional bibliography. The exam will contain specific questions for non-attending students.

Lectures and class discussion. Students are expected to attend regularly and to complete assigned readings before each class.

English

written

This subject deals with topics related to the macro-area "Climate change and energy" and contributes to the achievement of one or more goals of U. N. Agenda for Sustainable Development