HUM 5510 Wilderness & Eco-justice
This course will focus on philosophical and ethical literature and philosophy within the preservationist and environmental justice movements. Students will examine the paradigm shift in the environmental movement from an emphasis on wilderness destruction and preservation to environmental racism and justice, with some focus on environmental issues. Early American environmental literature tended to romanticize nature in an effort to get humans to value nature for its own sake and not simply as a resource, some of it even exhibiting a nature spirituality. In the 1980s, literature emerged linking destruction of the environment and human oppression. This environmental justice movement reframed what gets considered as an environmental issue and incorporated voices from marginalized communities.