HSHM 764: DECOLONIZING THE ANTHROPOCENE

HSHM 764 Fall 2018 DECOLONIZING THE ANTHROPOCENE [image description: a drawing of a brown, grey, and peach lake trout is juxtaposed over a blue background] Instructor: Dr. Zoe Todd E- mail: Office location: Office Ph. Office Hours: by appointment Seminar, 110 minutes a week. Course developed by: Dr. Zoe Todd, Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University ASSIGNMENTS -Reading analysis 1: critical, comparative analysis of readings {September 4-18 inclusive} (3000 words) (15%) (due at beginning of class on September 18) -students will be expected to reflect on readings completed up to this point in class. Assignment expectations will be further outlined in class. -Reading analysis 2: (3000 words) critical, comparative reflection on readings {September 25October 9 inclusive} (15%) (due at beginning of class on October 9) -students will be expected to reflect on readings completed between September 25 and October 9. Assignment expectations will be further outlined in class -Presentation/guided discussion: (20%) (scheduled throughout term) • Each student shall lead 30 minutes of structured class discussion once through the term: • Students will be asked to read two of the the texts assigned for the week, summarize the material for the class and prepare a series of questions to lead class discussion (there may be two students leading portions of the discussion per class) • Assignment expectations (timelines, rubric) will be further outlined in class -Final Essay (Journal Article Practice Peer Review): TWO PARTS Final essay proposal (15%) (due October 23): o Identify a journal article you plan to review ▪ Provide website, journal mission statement o Outline topic of the article, provide an abstract of the article in your own words, and briefly outline the aim of piece and why you chose to review this particular piece (Journal article review): (due at the beginning of class on 4 December): a final practice peer review (in a modified essay form) o explain whether you would have accepted the piece for publication, and provide rationale for this decision o emphasis on identifying areas of strength and ‘areas for growth’ in the article’s arguments—explain how this piece does or does not fit into and push/expand the horizons of existing literature o (Total assignment should be 6000-7000 words) (35%) I. Course Description and Objectives: Decolonizing the Anthropocene: This course explores diverse narratives of the Anthropocene epoch, interrogating the scientific work of defining and situating this era of anthropogenic change of the Earth System. Critical discourses from anthropology, Indigenous Studies, STS, Afrofuturism, geography and philosophy will be examined to complicate understandings of the Anthropocene. The aim of the course is to encourage students to be able to, in writing and in oral presentation work: a) identify contemporary discourses of the Anthropocene as they are addressed within the North American (socio-cultural) anthropological, STS, Indigenous Studies, geology, and Earth Systems science canon Course developed by: Dr. Zoe Todd, Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University b) identify local environmental issues—as they relate to the Anthropocene narrative-- in the Quinnipiac Territory the class takes place in c) analyze popular media and academic narratives of human-environmental issues relating to the Anthropocene d) apply a decolonial lens to contemporary popular and academic discourses of the Anthropocene e) apply critical anthropological discourses to understanding a) relationships between humans and their environment and b) how these relationships are shaped by, and understood through, dynamic and diverse socio-cultural factors/lenses throughout the world f) develop and apply critical analytical skills in reviewing current scholarship on the Anthropocene II. Course Policies Communications: If you have questions about class readings and assignments, you can reach me by email at [email protected]]. I will try to answer all correspondence within 48 hours. I read and respond to emails between 9 AM to 5 PM on weekdays, and I do not check or answer emails on the weekend. For submission of assignments, please submit electronic copies of course materials to me (in addition to the hard copies you will submit in class). I will send out correspondence to the class (re: assignments, readings) via your institutional e-mail address. I strongly recommend that students use their university email for course correspondence with me and your fellow classmates. Class Conduct: The materials covered in this course will engage a range of complex topics. It is important that these issues be addressed collectively within the class in a sensitive, respectful and accountable manner. Assignment Submission: Course assignments shall be submitted to me in hard copy in class on the date it is due, AND you must submit an electronic copy of all assignments through email at [[email protected]] (if file is too large to upload to the email, then you may use email me a link to your assignment sent via a file transfer program such as WeTransfer.com or Dropbox). Please retain a copy of all assignments—if one of your assignments is not received by me because it is lost, misplaced or otherwise goes missing, you will be responsible for submitting a backup copy immediately upon request. Do not submit assignments under my door. Quizzes and other in-course assignments will be returned in class, and assessments will also be returned in class. Final assignments (essay) will be available for pick up from my office once they are marked. Please get in touch with me ahead of deadlines if you have a deadline conflict or an emergency arises to discuss alternative arrangements. There is a 5% penalty for each day that an assignment is late. Course developed by: Dr. Zoe Todd, Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University III. Texts: Required Texts: 1. Tsing, Anna. (2015). The Mushroom at the End of the World. Princeton University Press. ISBN: 9780691162751 2. Sharpe, Christina. (2016). In the Wake: On Blackness and Being. Duke University Press. ISBN: 978-0-8223-6294-4 These books are available for order via Amazon. Recommended text: 3. Davis, Heather and Etienne Turpin. (2015). Art in the Anthropocene. Open Humanities Press. • (this book is available for free by downloading it from: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/art-in-the-anthropocene/) IV. Course calendar: Class Schedule: September 4 – Introduction to the course, ‘what is the Anthropocene?’ • Discussion of syllabus and expectations September 11- The Anthropocene as Fact Readings to be done before class: • Mushroom at the End of the World—Part I: “What’s Left?” (pp. 1-54) • Crutzen, Paul J. (2002) "Geology of Mankind." 415, no. 6867: 23. doi:10.1038/415023a. • Crutzen, Paul and Eugene Stoermer (2000) “The Anthropocene” Global Change Newsletter 41: 17-18. • Steffen, W., W. Broadgate, L. Deutsch, O. Gaffney, and C. Ludwig. 2015. The Trajectory of the Anthropocene: The Great Acceleration. The Anthropocene Review 2(1): 81-98. doi:10.1177/2053019614564785. September 18 –The Anthropocene as Construct READING REFLECTION ASSIGNMENT DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS • Mushroom at the End of the World—Part II “After Progress: Salvage Accumulation” (pp. 55-100) • Tallbear, Kim (2016) “Failed Settler Kinship, Truth and Reconciliation, and Science” http://indigenoussts.com/failed-settler-kinship-truth-and-reconciliation-and-science/ Haraway, Donna . (2016). “Chapter 3: Sympoiesis: Symbiogenesis and the Lively Arts of Staying with the Trouble”, Pp. 58-98 in Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene. Duke University Press. • Lewis, Simon and Mark A. Maslin. 2015. Defining the Anthropocene. Nature. Volume 519 (12 March 2015). • September 25 – Decolonizing the Anthropocene • Mushroom at the End of the World—Part II “After Progress: Salvage Accumulation” (pp. 101-148) • TallBear, Kim.[video] 2015. Disrupting Life/Not Life. DOPE 2015 keynote lecture. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE-gaDG-kLQ • Mbembe, Achille. 2015. Decolonizing Knowledge and the Question of the Archive. Lecture (May 2, 2015 at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research). http://wiser.wits.ac.za/system/files/Achille%20Mbembe%20- Course developed by: Dr. Zoe Todd, Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University • %20Decolonizing%20Knowledge%20and%20the%20Question%20of%20the%20Archiv e.pdf Joseph, Etienne, Bell, Connie, Francis, Wayne and Nadeem Din-Gabisi. 2015. [website]. Decolonising the Archive: http://www.decolonisingthearchive.com/people/ October 2 – More-than-human relations I • Mushroom at the End of the World—Part III, “Disturbed Beginnings: Unintentional Design” (pp. 149-200) • Watts, Vanessa. 2013. Indigenous Place-Thought and Agency amongst Humans And Non-- humans (First Woman and Sky Woman go on a European Tour!). DIES: Decolonization, Indigeneity, Education and Society 2(1): 20–34 https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/22155/18469 • Baldy, Cutcha Risling. 2014. Coyote is Not a Metaphor: On decolonizing, (re)claiming and (re)naming “Coyote”. DIES: Decolonization, Indigeneity and Society 4(1): https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/des/article/view/19145 October 9 – More-than-human relations II READING REFLECTION ASSIGNMENT DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS • Mushroom at the End of the World—Part III, “Disturbed Beginnings: Unintentional Design” (pp. 201-250) • Myers, Natasha. 2015. Edenic Apocalypse: Singapore’s End-of-Time Botanical Tourism project. Pp. 31-42 in Art in the Anthropocene, Heather Davis and Etienne Turpin, eds. London: Open Humanities Press. • Myers, Natasha. 2017. (2017) ‘From the Anthropocene to the Planthroposcene: Designing Gardens for Plant/People Involution,’ History and Anthropology 28 (30): 297-301. • Hall, Laura. 2015. My Mother’s Garden: Aesthetics, Indigenous Renewal, and Creativity. Pp. 283-292 in Art in the Anthropocene, Heather Davis and Etienne Turpin, eds. London: Open Humanities Press. October 16 – Posthumanism, Race and the Anthropocene • Mushroom at the End of the World, Part IV, “In the Middle of Things” (pp. 251-288) • Jackson, Zakiyyah Iman. 2013. Animal: New Directions in the Theorization of Race and Posthumanism. Feminist Studies 39(3): 669-685) • Wynter, Sylvia. Unsettling the Coloniality of Being/Power/Truth/Freedom: Towards the Human, After Man, Its Overrepresentation--An Argument. CR: The New Centennial Review 3.3 (2003) 257-337. • Kanngeiser, Anja and Angela Last. 2016. Five Propositions | Critiques for the Anthropocene. GeoCritique. http://www.geocritique.org/five-propositions-critiquesanthropocene/ October 23 – Human-geologic relations PART 1 OF PEER REVIEW ARTICLE ASSIGNMENT DUE AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS • In The Wake: Chapter 1: The Wake (pp.1-24) • Davis, Heather. 2016. [video] The Queer Futurity of Plastic. Talk, De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam, the Netherlands: https://vimeo.com/158044006 Course developed by: Dr. Zoe Todd, Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University • • • Malm, Andreas. 2013. “The Origins of Fossil Capital: From Water to Steam in the British Cotton Industry,” Historical Materialism 21 no. 1: 15-68. Agard-Jones, Vanessa. 2012. “What the sands remember”. GLQ 18(23): 325-346 https://doi.org/10.1215/10642684-1472917 Simmons, Kristen. "Settler Atmospherics." Dispatches, Cultural Anthropology website, November 20, 2017. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/1221-settleratmospherics October 30 – Relationships and relationality in the Anthropocene • In the Wake, Chapter 2: The Ship (pp.25-67) • Chakrabarty, Dipesh. 2009. The Climate of History: Four Theses. Critical Inquiry 35 (Winter 2009): 197-222. http://www.law.uvic.ca/demcon/2013 readings/Chakrabarty Climate of History.pdf • Donald, Dwayne. 2009. Forts, Curriculum, and Indigenous Metissage: Imagining Decolonization of Aboriginal-Canadian Relations in Educational Contexts. First Nations Perspectives 2(1): 1-24. • McGregor, Deborah. 2004. ”Coming Full Circle: Indigenous Knowledge, Environment and Our Future”. American Indian Quarterly 28 (Number 3/4): 385410. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4138924?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents • Additional text (not required): • Todd, Zoe. 2016. "Relationships." Theorizing the Contemporary, Cultural Anthropology website, January 21, 2016. https://culanth.org/fieldsights/799-relationships November 6 – Decolonizing Nature II: gender and environment • In the Wake, Chapter 3: The Hold (pp. 68-101) • Bawaka Country et al. 2015. Working with and learning from Country: decentring human author-ity. Cultural Geographies 22(2): 269-283. • Lee, Erica Violet. 2018. Indigenous women on the prairies deserve reproductive freedom (CBC Indigenous). https://moontimewarrior.com/2018/01/08/indigenouswomen-on-the-prairies-deserve-reproductive-freedom-cbc-indigenous/ • Lee, Erica Violet and Tasha Spillett. 2017. “Indigenous Women on the prairies deserve reproductive freedom.” CBC Indigenous. http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/opinion-indigenous-women-reproductivefreedom-1.4418787 November 13 – Responding to the Anthropocene: Indigenous Futurities I • In the Wake, Chapter 4: The Weather (pp. 102-134) • Vizenor, Gerald. 2016. Chapter 4: Gichi Noodin. Pp. 61-71 in Treaty Shirts: October 2034—A Familiar Treatise on the White Earth Nation. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press. • Lewis, Jason Edward, Arista, Noelani, Pechawis, Archer and Suzanne Kite. ”Making Kin with the Machines”. Journal of Design and Science. https://jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/lewis-arista-pechawis-kite • Kiwanga, Kapwani, 2012. “Afrogalactica: A Brief History of the Future (a teaser)”. https://vimeo.com/41449171 • Carrington, Andre. 2016. “Introduction: Introduction: The Whiteness of Science Fiction and the Speculative Fiction of Blackness”, Pp 1-29 in Course developed by: Dr. Zoe Todd, Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction. University of Minnesota Press. November 20 – November recess November 27 – Responding to the Anthropocene: Indigenous Futurities II • LaPensee, Elizabeth. 2015. [video] Returning. Short. Directed and Animated by Elizabeth LaPensée, edited by Sky Hopinka. https://vimeo.com/126542602 • Heath Justice, Daniel. 2015. ‘Epilogue: Badger People, Badger Futures’. Badger. London: Reaktion Books. • Cantave, Danielle, Mir ,Fizza, Howard, Lauren Howard, and Sefanit Habtom. The Henceforward podcast, Episode 1 “Give it Back” http://www.thehenceforward.com/episodes/2016/7/8/episode-1-give-it-back December 4 – Last class Final Assignments Due at beginning of class. V. Evaluation: For all assignments, citation and style guide is up to the student (ie: you may choose from APA, MLA, or Chicago) but pick one style and stick with it. Grades will be assigned as follows: B+ C+ A = Excellent B = Good C = Satisfactory D = Passing A- B- C- D- F = Fail Table 1. Course Letter Grades (source: https://ctl.yale.edu/YaleGrading) Grading Standard A 93-100 A- 90-92.99 B+ 87 – 89.99 B 83 – 86.99 B- 80 – 82.99 C+ 77 – 79.99 C 73 – 76.99 C- 70 – 72.99 D+ 67 – 69.99 D 63 – 66.99 D- 60 – 62.99 Rubrics will be provided for each assignment. VI. Academic Integrity Statement “In keeping with Yale’s policies on Academic Integrity, it is expected that you will uphold the tenets of scholarly integrity, and will submit original work that properly cites materials you consult. You may review the University’s resources for further information on definitions of plagiarism and general policies regarding academic integrity here: http://catalog.yale.edu/undergraduate-regulations/policies/definitions-plagiarismcheating/" Course developed by: Dr. Zoe Todd, Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University VII. Library and Personal Librarians From the Yale Library: “You should acquaint yourself with the library as soon as possible. All students are assigned a Personal Library upon enrollment at Yale. To find your personal librarian, go to www.library.yale.edy/pl/ and enter your name in the search box in the top righthand corner. Contact your Personal Librarian whenever you have a question about locating research materials. You will need to use the library’s resources for this class.” VIII. Academic Accommodations and Inclusivity Statement: “Your experience in this class is important to me. If you have already established accommodations with the Resource Office on Disabilities, please communicate your approved accommodations to me at your earliest convenience so we can discuss your needs in this course. If you have not yet established services through ROD, but have a temporary health condition or permanent disability that requires accommodations (conditions include but are not limited to: mental health, attention-related, learning, vision, hearing, physical or health impacts), you are welcome to contact ROD at 203-432-2324 to make an appointment. General information for students can be found on the Student Information page of the Resource Office on Disabilities’ website. ROD offers resources and coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities and/or temporary health conditions. Reasonable accommodations are established through an interactive process between you, your instructor(s), and ROD. It is important to Yale University to create inclusive and accessible learning environments consistent with federal and state law” (Source: Yale CTL and ROD https://ctl.yale.edu/DiversityStatements) “Commitment to an inclusive learning environment: Yale University adheres to the philosophy that all community members should enjoy an environment free of any form of harassment, sexual misconduct, discrimination, or intimate partner violence. If you have been the victim of sexual misconduct, we encourage you to report this. If you report this to a faculty/staff member, they must notify our college’s Title IX coordinator about the basic facts of the incident (you may choose to request confidentiality from the University). If you encounter sexual harassment, sexual misconduct, sexual assault, or discrimination based on race, color, religion, age, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability please contact the Title IX Coordinator, Stephanie Spangler, at [email protected](link sends e-mail) (203.432.4446) or any of the University Title IX Coordinators, who can be found at: http://provost.yale.edu/title-ix/coordinators” • Source: Nancy Niemi, Yale Center for Teaching and Learning: https://ctl.yale.edu/DiversityStatements) “ Course developed by: Dr. Zoe Todd, Visiting Assistant Professor, Yale University