Last modified: 31 Jul 2023 11:19
In recent decades, environmental crisis has become a global concern. In this course we examine how literary writers have engaged with issues such as pollution, nuclear disaster and climate change. If we are to prevent future environmental disaster we need more than a scientific understanding of facts – we need to understand how attitudes towards the environment are culturally shaped, and how environmental discourse is generated, debated and circulated.
| Study Type | Undergraduate | Level | 3 |
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| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
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From Chernobyl to Fukushima – nuclear disasters have provoked reflection on our attitudes towards risk and the consequences of our energy choices. So too have experiences of industrial pollution or reports of global warming. As awareness of current or impending environmental crisis has become increasingly widespread, the need for cultural understanding and debate has grown. This course addresses this pressing contemporary concern by encouraging students to examine cultural attitudes towards the environment in depth using techniques of textual analysis.
The course will situate contemporary environmental attitudes within historical context by introducing students to the environmental concerns that emerged around the late eighteenth century. We will consider what our present-day relationship with the environment owes to this Romantic heritage. As well as exploring the subsequent shaping of environmentalism, we will address some of today’s major environmental concerns such as pollution, energy supply and climate change. Some key texts will be selected for in-depth analysis: these will be literary works written within the last few decades. The course will focus on issues affecting central Europe, particularly Germany, though, since environmental crisis is rarely contained within national boundaries, many of the issues are global in nature. German honours students will be able to read some of the key texts in the German original, and thereby gain further linguistic competence, literary understanding, and enhance their knowledge of German culture and German environmentalism. Through comparative cultural analysis, students will be better able to appreciate different cultures of environmentalism and reflect upon their own environmental stances.
Primary texts may include, but are not limited to: Monika Maron, Flugasche (1981); Christa Wolf, Störfall (1987); Ilija Trojanow, EisTau (2011).
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 30 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
All presentations receive grades and are discussed individually within no more than 2 weeks. Essays are marked on the basis of specific marking criteria (as outlined in the course guide) and are returned with written feedback. Additional informal feedback on performance and seminar participation is offered in seminars. Tutors have office hours at which further feedback may be sought. |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 70 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback |
All presentations receive grades and are discussed individually within no more than 2 weeks. Essays are marked on the basis of specific marking criteria (as outlined in the course guide) and are returned with written feedback. Additional informal feedback on performance and seminar participation is offered in seminars. Tutors have office hours at which further feedback may be sought. |
Word Count | 2500 | |
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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There are no assessments for this course.
| Assessment Type | Summative | Weighting | 100 | |
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| Assessment Weeks | Feedback Weeks | |||
| Feedback | ||||
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
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| Factual | Remember | ILO’s for this course are available in the course guide. |
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