Fall 2020

Soil is considered the "skin of the Earth", with interfaces between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. It is a mixture of minerals, organic matter, gases, liquids and a myriad of organisms that can support plant life. As such, soil is a natural body that exists as part of the environment. This course will examine the nature, properties, formation and environmental functions of soil.

This course fulfills the EH Minor Requirement in Natural Science Approaches to Environmental Inquiry. See the full minor requirements list.

Whether you call it climatological science-fiction or #clifi, speculative fiction about anthropogenic climate change is becoming an important site for thinking, feeling, and warning about earth’s changing environments. In this class we’ll study a cluster of recent cli-fi novels that project a variety of climate scenarios—apocalyptic, utopian, and everything in between—into the future. We’ll also look at earlier fictions that explore humanity’s entanglement with non-human beings and environments, as well as at fictions that connect climate change in the present with scarce-resources, conflict, displacement, and environmental racism. Supplementary readings in the environmental humanities will introduce terms and concepts such as the Anthropocene, deep time, the great acceleration, the nonhuman turn, ecological grief, and climate justice. Primary texts by the likes of Octavia Butler, A. S. Byatt, Barbara Kingsolver, Nnedi Okorafor, Richard Powers, Kim Stanley Robinson, Jesmyn Ward, Alexis Wright.

This course fulfills the EH Minor Requirement in Arts & Humanities Approaches to Environmental Inquiry. See the full minor requirements list.

Many scholars find it challenging to explain and present their work to nonacademic audiences. Moreover, too few of us are aware of opportunities to put our academic skills to work in the service of improving the communities around us. This seminar considers ways of addressing these challenges through an examination of the many varieties of public history (and public humanities more broadly). The course includes hands-on projects in the Philadelphia area—that is, as “hands-on” as circumstances will allow. 

Four primary themes orient the readings, discussions, and assignments of the course:

• Commemoration and Public Memory: What roles do public monuments, memorials, and other static forms of commemoration play in civic life in the 21st century? Is there a meaningful place for such commemorations? How can they better represent the contested civic values of our changing societies, and how can they better educate a variety of publics?
• Places and Presentation: How can museums, historic sites, and other arenas in which audiences encounter history become more relevant and appealing to diverse audiences?
• Authority: Who produces history for the public, in whose name, and based on what principles?
• Engagement: How can history and related disciplines make a difference in the world, on small, medium, and large scales? 

We wrestle with these themes through close exploration of two central topics: (1) the history of epidemics and public health and (2) the history of racial injustice and racial empowerment struggles. The focus of the research components of this class is primarily on these histories and public memory of them in Philadelphia, although readings and discussions cover other cities and countries extensively.

The ultimate objective of the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is to stabilize greenhouse gases at a sufficiently low level and quickly enough to ensure that ecosystems “adapt naturally to climate change … food production is not threatened …[and that] economic development [can] proceed in a sustainable manner.” (Framework Convention on Climate Change, Article 2) Twenty three years after this convention was adopted, countries agreed to “strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change, in the context of sustainable development and efforts to eradicate poverty” by holding the Global Mean Temperature well-below 2 degrees (Paris Agreement, Article 2).

As part of this global goal, the Paris Agreement calls for increasing the “ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development”. While it is clear what is required to meet the first goal—rapidly decarbonize the economy and reach net-zero before mid-century—profound questions remain to be addressed to facilitate sufficient adaptation for people and natural systems.

This seminar is about this second goal of climate adaptation. There is essentially no philosophical literature about this topic, and, compared to the physical science and mitigation issues, comparatively little scholarly attention paid to this subject. We will work together in this seminar to begin building a philosophy of science literature on this topic that investigates the interfaces between physical and social science and the complex normative issues involved in climate adaptation actions. In addition to writing a standard seminar paper, students will be expected to work on a project that makes a substantial contribution to one or more of the intergovernmental climate processes.

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Fossil fuel powered the making—now the unmaking—of the modern world. As the first fossil fuel state, Pennsylvania led the United States toward an energy-intensive economy, a technological pathway with planetary consequences. The purpose of this seminar is to perform a historical accounting—and an ethical reckoning—of coal, oil, and natural gas. Specifically, students will investigate the histories and legacies of fossil fuel in connection to three entities: the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the City of Philadelphia, and the University of Pennsylvania.Under instructor guidance, students will do original research, some of it online, much the rest of itin archives, on and off campus, in and around Philadelphia.Philly-based research mayalso involve fieldwork. While based in historical sources and methods, this course intersects with business, finance, policy, environmental science, environmental engineering,urban and regional planning, public health,and social justice. Student projects may take multiple forms, individual and collaborative, from traditional papers to data visualizations prepared with assistance from the Price Lab for Digital Humanities.Through their research, students will contribute to a multi-year project that will ultimately be made available to the public.

This course fulfills the EH Minor Requirement in Arts & Humanities Approaches to Environmental Inquiry. See the full minor requirements list.

Critical Birding: Music, Observation, and the Environment has two aims: building critical listening skills through direct observation of birds and introducing students to a history of Western music through the lens of nature and the environment (birdsong has inspired composers for centuries). This course brings listening practices and music history into conversation with the Environmental Humanities. This course fulfills the Elective requirement of the Music major.

This course fulfills the EH Minor Requirement in Arts & Humanities Approaches to Environmental Inquiry. See the full minor requirements list.

This interdisciplinary course is a Global Seminar that exposes students to the three dimensions of sustainable development -environmental, economic, and social- through an examination of three products -peyote, coca, and coffee- that are crucial in shaping modern identity in areas of Latin America. The course integrates this analysis of sustainable development in relation to cultural sustainability and cultural practices associated with peyote, coca, and coffee and their rich, traditional heritage and place in literature, film, and the arts. 

This course fulfills the EH Minor Requirements in Arts & Humanities Approaches to Environmental Inquiry. See the full minor requirements list.

This interdisciplinary course exposes students to the three dimensions of sustainable development -environmental, economic, and social- through an examination of three products -peyote, coca, and coffee- that are crucial in shaping modern identity in areas of Latin America. The course integrates this analysis of sustainable development in relation to cultural sustainability and cultural practices associated with peyote, coca, and coffee and their rich, traditional heritage and place in literature, film, and the arts. This is an upper level seminar open to majors and minors of Spanish and those who have completed Pre-requiste SPAN 219 or SPAN 223 or permission of the Undergraduate Chair. Cross-listings ENVS, LALS, ANTH

This course fulfills the EH Minor Requirements in Arts & Humanities Approaches to Environmental Inquiry.

Emergent transdisciplinary fields, such as the environmental humanities, reflect a growing awareness that responses to contemporary environmental dilemmas require the collaborative work of not only diverse scientists, medical practitioners, and engineers, but also more expansive publics, including artists, urban and rural communities, social scientists, and legal fields. This course is inspired by the need to attend to environmental challenges as inherently social concerns.  The course is co-taught by faculty from the School of Arts and Sciences and the School of Medicine, and will address the challenges and possibilities of working across disciplinary boundaries, building collaborative affinities, and negotiating frictions between diverse methodologies and epistemological approaches. Through their different lenses, Dr. Lyons and Dr. Howarth will foster interdisciplinary collaboration and scholarship by engaging students in discussions and research that bring together the arts and sciences with a focus on urban air pollution, soil remediation, deforestation, and water contamination, among other issues. A comparative exploration of environmental justice in both Colombia and the U.S. will be infused into the course.

This course is a required course for the Environmental Humanities Minor. See the full minor requirements list.

In this Ben Franklin Seminar, students will read Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright August Wilson's 20th Century Cycle: ten plays that form an iconic picture of African American traumas, triumphs, and traditions through the decades, told through the lens of Pittsburgh's Hill District neighborhood. In addition to Wilson’s plays, other readings include supporting material on Wilson's work and African American theatre, along with the works of contemporary playwrights whom Wilson has influenced (such as Suzan-Lori Parks and Tarell Alvin McCraney).  The readings will be contextualized through materials that shed light on Penn's relationship with West Philadelphia. In this Academically Based Community Service (ABCS) course, students will have the opportunity to enhance their understanding of the plays, and the history and culture that shaped them, by forming meaningful relationships with West Philadelphia residents, through our partnership with the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance. Wilson's plays provide the bridge between the two groups. In addition to a discussion of a Wilson play bringing students and community members together at mid-semester, the course culminates with students writing an original theatre piece inspired by the readings and relationships, which they will share during an end-of-semester performance.

This course fulfills the EH Minor Requirements in Arts & Humanities Approaches to Environmental Inquiry and Public Engagement. See the full minor requirements list.