STS 4330 - How Do We Know Nature? Language, Knowledge and the Environment

(crosslisted) ANTHR 4330, COGST 4330
(CA-AS) (CU-SBY, CU-CEL)

Fall. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

L. Cortesi.

How do we perceive and know the world around us? Which are the multiple ways in which we negotiate this knowledge into language and embodied practice? Does one’s position in society matter? Is the thing reducible to its representation? This senior seminar proposes to confront the production of knowledge on nature through the lenses of our (and others’) ways of wording it. Towards the end of the semester, we will focus on the concept of adaptation: how do we cope with an increasingly difficult environment? This course includes an engaged research component and experiential learning—we will prepare an art/research installation called ”The Flood Room: Environmental Knowledge, Disaster Preparedness, Community Resilience and Climate Change Communication in Ithaca, New York” in collaboration with local community organizations.