Literature and the Ecology of Resistance

We will begin by exploring environmental literature from the Global South. How does this genre of writing and thinking differ from first-world environmentalism? In what ways has ecology become the basis for political movements in those parts of the world that are still affected by the ongoing legacy of colonialism? We will focus in particular on the question of rebellion, resistance, and counter-insurgency, and ask, how do the conditions of the natural world effect both resistance movements and strategies of neocolonial control? Throughout, we will seek to put pressure on the question of “literature” itself, as we ask how writing has played a role in environmental politics from the 20th century to the present day.  Each week, primary texts by writers such as Zakes Mda, Arundhati Roy, Karen Tae Yamashita, and Raja Shehadeh will be considered alongside selections from critical and theoretical works by Jane Bennett, Frantz Fanon, Ramachandra Guha, Joan Martinez-Alier, Rob Nixon, and Eyal Weitzman, among others. This course counts as elective credit toward the ENAM major.