Geography: Nature, Places & Poli of Truth

Advanced offerings in political ecology and political economy, particularly at global and regional scales. Possible topics include Third World economic restructuring, globalization, international environmental movements. May repeat for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years. Prerequisites: Vary with course content; minimum Junior standing.

GEOG majors only for first week of registration Six hours in Geography, Environmental Studies, or Gender, Sexuality, & Women's Studies. PACE students with permission and override

Course Overview This advanced seminar examines natures, places and the politics of truth through an approach known as feminist political ecology (FPE). We will emphasize key Science, Technology, and Society (STS) concepts relevant to contemporary FPE. Through student-led discussions and workshops, we will learn together about how specific technologies and scientific practices shape our understanding of how to repair various natures: from ordinance-ridden Cambodian fields, to an aquifer in Arizona, to chronically ill human bodies, to fictional post-apocalyptic worlds. We will also critically analyze human-animal, human-plant, and human-technology relations that are pivotal to future-oriented projects: from preparing the seabed for industrial resource extraction to finding possibilities and heeding warnings amidst multiple impending disasters. We will read essays, biographical writing, ethnographic analysis and science fiction to carefully unpack common tropes of humanity’s remaining survivors, resisters, and expert scientists in ways that rethink ideas of nature, modernity, agency, freedom, expertise, relating and other concepts. Core Required Books: • Butler OE (2007) Lilith’s Brood. New York: Grand Central Publishing. ISBN: 0-446-67610-1. • DeAngelo D (2024) How to Love a Rat: Detecting Bombs in Postwar Cambodia. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. ISBN: 978-0-520-39742-2. • Dumit J (2012) Drugs for Life: How Pharmaceutical Companies Define Our Health. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. ISBN: 978-0-8223-4871-9. • Han LY (2024) Deepwater Alchemy: Extractive Mediation and the Taming of the Seafloor. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. ISBN: 978-1-5179-1594-0. • Solnit R (2021) Orwell’s Roses. New York: Penguin Random House. ISBN: 978-0-5930-8337-6. • Taylor S (2024) Disabled Ecologies: Lessons from a Wounded Desert. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. ISBN: 978-0-520-39742-2.

Learning Objectives After completing and reflecting on experiences in this course, students should be able to: i. Critically analyze popular narratives about technology and constructed boundaries between nature/society dichotomies (awareness/knowledge/foundations) ii. Conduct creative and critical research that integrates and synthesizes multiple disciplinary perspectives and that distinguishes and combines different kinds of evidence, methods and theories (such research entails working independently and in groups, drawing on the diverse strengths of group members and encouraging peer- and self-assessment (application/integration/skills) iii. Recognize a diversity of cultural values and ecologies across multiple sites of local, national, global and networked relations, which requires taking the time to listen to the seemingly obvious, the banal and the daily facets of lives often drowned out by grand narratives about groups of people and about non-humans ((non)human dimension/personal/values/skills) iv. Begin, as members of society, to deliberately identify and assess how specific environmental narratives and technical fixes impact our own lives, shape our behavior and in turn, impact the lives of others who might not share our identities, attitudes, beliefs, values and assumptions (human dimension/personal) v. Take responsibility for communicating precisely and respectfully through written, visual and other digital genres to express key concerns and engage other perspectives (caring/skills) vi. Develop a greater desire to read specific texts more than once and to explore how one might “become with and among” other individuals, communities and ecologies (through this process, students will build a clearer sense of what they would like to learn and to do next and what knowledge and skills are necessary to do so) (application/learning how to learn)

Course Engagement and Fundamentals (30% of the final course grade): encourages different forms of peer participation, problem-solving, content clarification and other creative contributions. • First-Week Survey: This assignment helps shape the flow of the course and it will help you make informed decisions about your ‘Second Essay’ option (2.5% of the final course grade). • Acknowledgements/Introductions Diagram: This assignment will help you make informed contributions to the first-week survey regarding the flow of the course content. It also provides a framework for how we will approach reading and writing in this course (2.5% of the final course grade). • Co-facilitation of two class discussions and workshops: This seminar course involves pairing up with another student to prepare for and co-facilitate discussions and workshops twice during the semester (15% of the final course grade). You will sign up for your facilitation dates by 5:00pm on Tuesday, January 20th. Foundational, Reflective and Integrative Assignments (70% of the final course grade): are designed to help you gradually build writing and analytical skills linked to our course materials and discussions. • Notecards: You will write short notecards for each essay or book section read for class using a digital template (there are 24 notecards total for the entire course). For full credit, you must complete at least 20 notecards (worth 15% of the final course grade). o You should prepare notecards before class and submit them in Brightspace no later than 10:00am on the day of class for which we have assigned reading. These submitted notecards should reflect your initial or draft reflections and questions about the reading. Prof. Nelson reviews, assesses, and checks the timeliness of uploaded notecards. She often consults them before class to inform our discussions. o During class, you should edit and make notes on these cards and save these changes shortly after class. It is not necessary to resubmit them in Brightspace, but they serve as a structured way of keeping and correcting notes and ideas for our major essays. Those who do not keep up with these short notecards are likely to do poorly on their essays, as they serve as a foundation for these assignments. • Research Notecards: You will use the same notecard template to write and submit one notecard for each of 5 additional sources beyond our core required readings for this course. You are welcome to write more than five notecards as you conduct research for your essays, but you only need to submit 5 as part of this assignment (5% of the final course grade). • First Essay: We will discuss and develop expectations and a rubric for this essay in class. Analyze 2 of our 6 course books together to find and explore connections. Prof. Nelson will offer prompts and guide exercises for developing the focus and scope of the essay. You may opt to solo- or co-author this essay (you may not co-author both essays) (20% of the final course grade). • Second Essay: See the options detailed in the Course Assessments table. [Option 1: Analyze 2 of our 6 course books together to find and explore connections (these must be different from the options chosen in the first essay). Option 2: If you are writing a thesis this or next semester and want to connect that work to a book in this course, you may! Option 3: If you previously took Geog 2774 with me, you may pair a game of choice with one of the 6 course books from this semester. You will need to go back to our game studies resources to do this well. This further develops your prior work at a more advanced level. Option 4: If you are engaging deeply with another book-length work outside of this course and want to keep yourself accountable to finishing that project this semester, contact Prof. Nelson regarding how you will connect that work to a book from this course.] You will need to indicate which option you are considering in the First-Week survey, but you have until Monday, January 26th to submit your decision regarding this essay option. You may opt to solo- or co-author this essay (you may not co-author both essays) (30% of the final course grade).