CCS 123

This course explores the complex, evolving relationships between humans and the diverse beings¿animal, plant, fungal, and material¿that shape our shared worlds. Drawing on anthropology, environmental humanities, science and technology studies, Indigenous knowledge, and multispecies ethnography, we will engage works that examine how life unfolds through interdependence, contestation, and co-creation across species lines.
Topics include the cultural and political significance of animals and plants; environmental ethics and multispecies justice; and the entanglement of human and nonhuman histories in landscapes transformed by colonialism, capitalism, and contemporary environmental change. We will also consider the agency of nonliving forces¿glaciers, waters, and built environments¿and how they shape human lives.
Through readings, media analysis, group projects, and multimodal creative work, students will learn to think beyond human-centered perspectives, questioning conventional boundaries between species and between nature and culture, living and nonliving. By the end of the course, students will be able to critically analyze multispecies entanglements and reflect on their own responsibilities in cohabiting an increasingly interdependent and unsettled planet.

Offered occasionally.

CO24 - CCS (Critical Conversations Seminar)