Hong Kong Shue Yan University

Department of English Language & Literature

Master of Arts in Interdisciplinary Cultural Studies

Course Title : Environment, Ecology and Ecocriticism

Course Code : ENG 509

Number of Credits :3

Duration in Weeks : 14

Contact Hours Per Week : Lecture (2 Hours)

: Tutorial (1 Hour)
Pre-requisite(s) : NIL

Prepared by : Prof. WONG Kin Yuen

Course Description

This course brings together seminal writings on the central issues in ecology as a scientific
discourse and environmental ethics, and how they comprise a base for the general direction and
methodology of ecocriticism. Students are expected to have a grasp of geological problems
ranging from ozone depletion, deforestation, climate change, water pollution to global crises,
animal extinction, environmental pragmatism etc. Ecology as a science is emphasized so as to
arm students with a solid foundation of facts, before they move on to topics such as
environmentalism, deep ecology, life-ethics, ecofeminism, and the rapidly emerging field of
literary ecology. Texts on cultural geography, social and cultural theories on environment,
ecological philosophy, mythology and political ecology will be used, and students are
encouraged to choose matching literary works (novels, poetry and short stories) as well as
cultural texts (films, TV and animation) for illustration. The course being necessarily
interdisciplinary in nature, it again serves as an important testing ground for the philosophy of
our MA programme as a whole. One of the objectives of this course is for students to develop
new directions of awareness particularly in relation to the module of “environment and
technology” in liberal studies. The ultimate aim is for students, after taking this course, to be
able to guide the younger generation to better shape the relationship between humans and nature
into the future.

Course Outcomes, Teaching Activities and Assessment

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

Upon completion of this course students should be able to:
ILO1 describe ecology as science as well as articulate concepts of
environmentalism, deep ecology and life-ethics.
ILO2 make arguments for or against our way of treating nature as a moral
 question
ILO3 define ecocriticism and ecological literary discourse by sketching their
historical development, and foster debate on the relation between ecoethics
and literature and arts.
ILO4 relate ecocriticism to the module “environment and technology” as
stipulated in the HKDSE liberal studies curriculum.
ILO5 examine the ways deep ecology and ecofeminism on the one side and
Chinese Daoism, Buddhism and Confucianism on the other, can both learn
from the critique of one another.
ILO6 formulate directions of reconfiguring the human and non-human
relationship into the future.

Teaching and Learning Activities (TLAs)

TLA1 Introduction to the concept of environmentalism and ecocriticism
TLA2 Introduction to basic concept and science of ecology
TLA3 Critical discussion of reading materials
TLA4 In-class discussion
TLA5 Oral presentations by students
TLA7 Writing a short piece of literature criticism
TLA8 Written project

Assessment Tasks (ATs)

AT1 In-class discussion 10%
Students are to respond actively to specific questions made by the
lecturer as well as participate in class discussion in either in lecture
or tutorial.
AT2 Oral presentation 30%
In a group of 3-4, students are to deliver an oral presentation on a
specific topic which can demonstrate their understanding of the
issue(s) and concepts(s) discussed in this course. Also, at the end of
the presentation there will be time for class discussion.
AT3 Literature criticism 20%
Students are to write a criticism of a creative written text (short
story, novel, poem) which can demonstrate their understanding of
the strategies and issues of ecocriticism.
AT4 Final written project 40%
Students are to write a research paper which can demonstrate a
solid grasp of issue(s) and concept(s) taught in the course. The
research paper has to be a critical analysis of specific topic and
adopt a problem-solving approach which can demonstrate students’
ability of critical thinking and analysis.
TOTAL 100%
Alignment of Course Intended Learning Outcomes, Teaching and Learning Activities
and Assessment Tasks
Course Intended Learning Teaching and Learning Assessment Tasks
Outcomes Activities
ILO1 TLA1,2,3 AT1
ILO2 TLA5,8 AT2,4
ILO3 TLA1,4,5,7 AT1,2,3
ILO4 TLA5,7,8 AT1,2,3,4
ILO5 TLA3,4,8 AT3,4
ILO6 TLA4,5,6,7 AT8

Course Outline

Week 1 Introduction

Jennifer Freeman, Science 101: Ecology (2007)

Michel Morange, Life Explained, pp.133-156; pp.175-178.

Week 2 Basic Ecology

Thomas W. Schoener, “Ecological Niche,” The Princeton Guide to Ecology, pp.3-13.

Michael a. Bell, “Microevolution,” The Princeton Guide to Ecology, pp.126-133.

Michel Loreau, “Communities and Ecosystems,” The Princeton Guide to Ecology,

pp.253-255.

Robert R. Colwell, “Biodiversity: Concepts, Patterns, and Measurement,” The Princeton

Guide to Ecology, pp.257-263.

Reference: Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth (movie)

Week 3 Fascination With the planet earth

Jan Zalasiewicz, The Planet in a Pebble, pp.1-36; pp.210-219.

Daniel J. Levitin, The World in Six Songs, pp.229-285.

James Lovelock, The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning, pp.123-133.

William Blake, “Ah Sun-Flower,” “The Garden of Love”

William Wordsworth, “The Table Turned,” “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” “My Heart
Leaps Up,” “The Solitary Reaper”
Week 4 Environmental Ethics

Ronald L. Sandler, Character and Environment, pp.1-8; pp.63-83.

Aldo Leopold’, “The Land Ethic,” Environmental Ethics: An anthology, pp.38-46.

Week 5 Sociology, Politics and the Environment

Erika Cudworth, Environment and Society, pp.9-35; pp.128-157.

Tim Forsyth, Critical Political Ecology, pp.1-23.

Reference: Carroll Ballard, Fly Away Home (movie)

Week 6 Life Ethics

Lisa H. Sideris, “A Comprehensive Naturalized Ethic,” Environmental Ethics, Ecological

Theology and Natural Selection, pp.217-261.

Octavio Paz, “My Life with the Wave,” from The Eye of the Heart: Short Stories from Latin
America, pp. 383-398.

Horacio Quiroga, “The Alligator War,” from The Eye of the Heart: Short Stories from Latin
America, pp. 101-113.

Reference: John McTiernan, Medicine Man (movie)

Week 7 Deep Ecology

Freya Mathews, “Deep Ecology,” A Companion to Environmental Philosophy, pp.218-232.

Arne Naess, “The Deep Ecological Movement,” Deep Ecology for the 21st Century,
pp.64-84.

Arne Naess, “The Shallow and the Deep, Long-Range Ecology Movements: A Summary,”
Deep Ecology for the 21st Century, pp.151-155.

Arne Naess, “The Deep Ecology ‘Eight Points’ Revisited,” Deep Ecology for the 21st
Century, pp.213-221.

Warwick Fox, “Deep Ecology: A New Philosophy of Our Time?” Environmental Ethics,
pp.252-261.

Week 8 Ecocriticism

Cheryll Glotfelty, “Introduction: Literary Studies in an Age of Environmental Crisis,” The

Ecocriticism Reader, pp.xv-xxyiii.

William Howarth, “Some Principles of Ecocriticism,” The Ecocriticism Reader, pp.69-91.

Thomas Hardy, “She Hears the Storm”

 Edwin Muir, “The Animals”

Week 9 Ecocriticism Continues

William Rueckert, “Literature and Ecology: An Experiment in Ecocriticism,” The

Ecocriticism Reader, pp.105-123.

Greg Garrard, Ecocriticism, pp.1-32; pp.160-182.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Nature”

Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods

Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”

Gary Snyder, “Riprap”

Ernest Hemingway, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”

Week 10 Ecofeminism

Carolyn Merchant, “Ecofeminism and Feminist Theory,” Reweaving The World: The
Emergence of Ecofeminism, pp.100-105.

Ynestra King, “Healing the Wounds: Feminism, Ecology, and the Nature/Culture Dualism,”
Reweaving the World, pp.106-121.

Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Bones of the Earth,” from Tales from Earthsea

Week 11 Ecofeminism continues

Karen F. Warren, “Taking Empirical Data Seriously: An Ecofeminist Philosophical

Perspective,” Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, nature, pp.3-20.

Gretchen T. Legler, “Ecofeminist Literary Criticism,” Ecofeminism: Women, Culture,

Nature, pp.227-238.

Victoria Davion, “Ecofeminism,” A Companion to Environmental Philosophy, pp.233-247.

Reference: Hayao Miyazaki, Princess Mononoke (movie)

Week 12 Ecology and Chinese Culture

Wong Kin-yuen, “Buddhist Consciousness, Deleuzian Ecoethics, and the Case with Wang
Wei’s Poetry,” SSEASR Journal, pp.37-56.

Daniel H. Henning, Buddhism and Deep Ecology, pp.29-77.

Week 13 Ecology and Chinese Culture continues

 Jordan Paper, “Chinese Religion, ‘Daoism,’ and Deep Ecology,” Deep Ecology and World
Religions, pp.107-126.

Jeffrey F. Meyer, “Salvation in the Garden: Daoism and Ecology,” Daoism and Ecology,
pp.219-241.

Ursula K. Leguin, “Epilogue: Dao Song,” Daoism and Ecology, pp.411-413.

Week 14 Recapitulation

Resources

Primary Texts

Barnhill, David L. and Gottlieb, Rogers. Ed. (2001) Deep Ecology and World Religions.
Albany: State U. of New York P.

Cudworth, Erika. (2003) Environment and Society. London and New York: Routledge.

Curry, Patrick (2006) Ecological Ethics: An Introduction. Cambridge: Polity.

Diamond, Irene and Orenstein, Gloria Feman Ed. (199) San Francisco: Sierra Club Books.

Freeman, Jennifer (2007) Science 101: Ecology. New York: Collins

Garrard, Greg (2004) Ecocriticism. London & New York: Routledge.

Girardot, N.J. et al Ed. (2001) Daoism and Ecology: Ways Within a Cosmic Landscape.
Cambridge: Harvard UP.

Glotfelty, Cheryll. Ed. (1996) The Ecocriticism Reader. Athens and London: The U. of
Georgia P.

Henning, Daniel H. (2002) Buddhism and Deep Ecology. Bloomington: 1st Books.

Jamieson, Dale Ed. (2003) A Companion to Environmental Philosophy. Oxford: Blackwell.

Leopold, Aldo (2003) “The Land Ethic,” Environmental Ethics: An Anthology. Ed. Andrew
Light and Holmes Rolston III. Oxford: Blackwell, pp.38-46.

Levin, Simon a. Ed. (2009) The Princeton Guide to Ecology. New Jersey: Princeton UP.

Levitin, Daniel J. (2008) The World in Six Songs. New York: Penguin.

Lovelock, James (2009) The Venishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warming. London: Penguin.

Morange, Michel (2008) Life Explained. Trans. Matthew Cobb and Malcolm DeBevoise. New
Haven & London: Yale UP.

Sandler, Ronald L. (2007) Character and Environment: A Virtue-Oriented Approach to

Environmental Ethics. New York: Columbia UP.

Sessions, George. Ed. (1995) Deep Ecology for the 21st Century: Readings on the Philosophy
and Practice of the New Environmentalism. Boston & London: Shambhala.
Sideris, Lisa H. (2003) Environmental Ethics, Ecological Theology and Natural Selection.
New York: Columbia UP.

Wong, Kin-yuen “Buddhist Consciousness, Deleuzian Ecoethisc, and the Case with Wang Wei’s
Poetry” SSEASR Journal (2008) pp.37-56.

Zalasiewicz, Jan. (2010) The Planet in a Pebble: A Journey into Earth’s Deep History. Oxford:
Oxford UP.