 |
WRITING NATURE is offered through the Program in Writing & Rhetoric at Stanford University. The course is and taught by Carolyn Ross; the primary text is Writing Nature: An Ecological Reader for Writers by Carolyn Ross (St. Martin's Press, 1995). What place do human beings occupy in nature? To what extent do we conceive of nature as "Other," as separate from ourselves? Do those who own technology own science as well? Critical inquiry into relationships among nature, culture, science, and technology, around which the research and writing in this course revolve, raises crucial questions about what it means to be human, and about ethical choices and social justice. Course readings and films serve as subjects for rhetorical analysis and as sources of information and provocation. Within their cultural and historical contexts, we examine the evolving logic of environmental philosophies expressed through biblical and native creation stories, writings of the Transcendentalists, and twentieth century environmental texts by Aldo Leopold and others, applying them to current arguments over land use, bioethics, and environmental justice. In writing, we move from relatively personal to more public discourse. In the Leap of Faith essay, a contextual analysis, you will express your environmental philosophy in comparison to others'. In the research paper, you have the opportunity to conduct intensive primary and secondary research on a topic of special interest to you, open within our broad course theme, articulating a complex argument in a sophisticated research essay. In the "Rhetorical Practice/Rhetorical Analysis," you will style an essay after the work of an author whose rhetorical strategies intrigue you, then analyze your own rhetoric in light of his or hers. During the quarter, you will also give two in-class presentations, providing a rhetorical analysis of one of the readings or films on our syllabus and sharing a particularly interesting aspect of your research project. The primary text for the class is Writing Nature: An Ecological Reader for Writers. |