Do trees communicate? Is chirping a form of language in its own right? What does it mean to listen to the Earth speaking? Ultimately, can the human language give space to non-verbal forms of interaction? This course is going to pose these questions as a challenge to conventional anthropocentrism. In particular, it will look at the role of literature in debunking hierarchies in the Anthropocene, with a specific focus on non-Western perspectives.
The questions outlined above are at the core of the so-called ‘Deep Ecology’ movement, which aims to challenge the anthropocentrism embedded in the dominant global culture and consciousness. They also chime with a considerable number of ethnographic, biopolitical and semiotic analyses, which are currently undergoing a remarkable acceleration. While taking this framework into account as a theoretical background, this seminar investigates the distinctive role that literature plays in such a crucial consciousness shift. It is going to be focused on poetic and narrative works that, while inevitably relying on language, aim to decentralise human logos and give space to other-than-human forms of communication. Particular attention will be devoted to texts that have been influenced by non-Western philosophies and traditions of thought in their conceptualisation of landscapes and environments. By means of close-readings and open discussions, the students are going to analyse the rhetoric and stylistic devices used by those authors who write about nature from a decentred perspective, with their decentralisation encompassing ethnic, religious, class and gender pluralities, to point to the radical decentralisation of the human altogether. Each student is going to add their own personal and academic background, to enrich a joint effort in deconstructing the dualistic ideology that stresses separation, polarisation and detachment among beings. Poetry and novels are going to be the entry points to a renewed conceptualisation of the planet as a net of interconnected experiences, of which the collaborative environment of the class is going to represent a fruitful microcosm.
This class will be taught online. Students are asked to please get a copy of The Grassling (2019) by Elizabeth-Jane Burnett. Additional texts will be provided on Digicampus.
Anmelderegeln
Diese Veranstaltung gehört zum Anmeldeset "Beschränkte Teilnehmendenanzahl: Dialogues Beyond the Human - Claudia Dellacasa".
Folgende Regeln gelten für die Anmeldung:
Die Anmeldung ist möglich von 06.09.2021, 08:00 bis 11.10.2021, 18:00.
Es wird eine festgelegte Anzahl von Plätzen in den Veranstaltungen verteilt.
Die Plätze in den betreffenden Veranstaltungen wurden am 13.10.2021 um 18:00 verteilt. Weitere Plätze werden evtl. über Wartelisten zur Verfügung gestellt.
