AJ27067 Řeky Ameriky

Filozofická fakulta
podzim 2011
Rozsah
0/2/0. 2 kr. (plus 3 za zk). Doporučované ukončení: zk. Jiná možná ukončení: z.
Vyučující
Mgr. et Mgr. Kateřina Prajznerová, M.A., Ph.D. (přednášející)
Garance
Jeffrey Alan Vanderziel, B.A.
Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky – Filozofická fakulta
Kontaktní osoba: Tomáš Hanzálek
Rozvrh
každý sudý čtvrtek 7:30–9:05 G22
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Mateřské obory/plány
Cíle předmětu
AJ27067 Rivers of America Fall 2011, Even Thursdays, 7:30-9:05, Room G22 Kateřina Prajznerová 68450@mail.muni.cz Office Hours: Even Wednesdays, 1 pm - 5 pm and by appointment Description: Gary Snyder, in “Coming into the Watershed,” notes that the “boundaries [of a watershed] are not hard and clear . . . They are porous, permeable, arguable . . . Yet these are the markers of the natural nations of our planet.” This course compares several such “natural nations” on the North American continent, each representing an ecologically as well as culturally distinct area that transgresses multiple political boundaries. In particular, we will study the Ohio River watershed in the eastern United States, the Rio Grande on the US-Mexico border, the Colorado in the American Southwest, the North Saskatchewan in the Canadian West, and the Yukon that links the Yukon Territory with Alaska in the Far Northwest. Reading a variety of genres, we will sample the literatures of these watersheds as “case studies” for an investigation of the interconnections of literature, history and ecology, the intricacies of human relationships to rivers – both literally and metaphorically, in the past and in the present – and the impact on other biotic communities. We will thus seek to do the kind of work that Laurence Buell calls for in “Watershed Aesthetics,” work that “challenges parochialism not only of jurisdictional borders . . . but also of ‘natural’ borders that fail to take larger interdependencies into account, interdependencies that finally reach out to include the whole planet.” To this end, a fieldwork project designed to get to better know a local watershed has been integrated into the syllabus.
The aims of the course include to prepare students to read critically; analyze primary as well as secondary texts both orally and in writing; conduct interdisciplinary research in the fields of literature and environmental studies.
Osnova
  • Schedule:
  • Unit A: Reading the Ohio River Watershed
  • Week 1: Sept. 29
  • Core text:
  • • Heat-Moon, William Least. “The Ohio River.” 106-70.
  • Supplementary text:
  • • Snyder, Gary. “Coming into the Watershed.” 219-35.
  • Week 2: Oct. 6
  • Core texts:
  • • Awiakta, Marilou. Selected poems from Abiding Appalachia: Where Mountain and Atom Meet. 3; 5; 7; 13; 18; 19; 24; 30; 33; 36; 49; 52; 56).
  • • Bales, Stephen Lyn. Selections from “Spring” and “Summer.” Natural Histories: Stories from the Tennessee Valley. “Gray Bat” 105-18; “Darters” 134-47.
  • • Marion, Jeff Daniel. “By the Banks of the Holston: Memories of a River.” 3-13.
  • Supplementary text:
  • • Buell, Lawrence. “Watershed Aesthetics.” 243-65.
  • Class session I on Thursday, Oct. 6; response paper due in ELF by midnight on Monday, Oct. 3. (Comments due in ELF by midnight on Tuesday).
  • Unit B: Reading the Rio Grande Watershed
  • Week 3: Oct. 13
  • Core texts:
  • • Hillerman, Tony. “Rio Grande.” 63-91.
  • • Reid, Jan. Selections from Rio Grande. xiii-xxiii; 69-83; 96-104; 203-07; 232-35; 255-61; 313-15; 317-19.
  • Supplementary text:
  • • Horgan, Paul. Selections from Great River. 3-7; 13-80.
  • Week 4: Oct. 20
  • Core texts:
  • • Bowden, Keith. Selections from The Tecate Journals. 25-35; 36-64; 286-91.
  • • Silko, Leslie Marmon. “Yellow Woman.” 54-62.
  • Supplementary text:
  • • Littlefield, Douglas. R. Selections from Conflict on the Rio Grande. 3-15; 16-32; 33-55; 194-216; 217-20.
  • Class session II on Thursday, Oct. 20; response paper due in ELF by midnight on Monday, Oct. 17. (Comments due in ELF by midnight on Tuesday).
  • Unit C: Reading the Colorado River Watershed
  • Week 5: Oct. 27
  • Core texts:
  • • Fleck, Richard F., ed. Selections from A Colorado River Reader. vii-xv; 1-10; 11-16; 48-63; 87-96; 119-30; 144-55; 185-87.
  • • Powell, John Wesley. Selections from The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons. vii-xii; 17-37; 379-97.
  • Supplementary text:
  • • Adler, Robert W. Selections from Restoring Colorado River Ecosystems 1-25; 237-66.
  • Week 6: Nov. 3
  • Core texts:
  • • McNamee, Gregory. Selections from Gila. 1-18; 125-46; 175-97; 199-208.
  • • Zwinger, Ann Haymond. Selections from Downcanyon: 5-17; 69-81; 149-61; 183-95; 213-24; 229-38.
  • Supplementary text:
  • • Powell, James Lawrence. Selections from Dead Pool. 87-225.
  • Class session III on Thursday, Nov. 3; response paper due in ELF by midnight on Monday, Oct. 31. (Comments due in ELF by midnight on Tuesday).
  • Unit D: Reading the North Saskatchewan River Watershed
  • Week 7: Nov 10
  • Core texts:
  • • Kostash, Myrna. Selections from Reading the River. 1-5; 7-19; 21-31; 87-134; 327-34; 344-49.
  • • van Herk, Aritha. “My Misfit River.” 9-11.
  • Supplementary texts:
  • • Agee, James. “Tennessee Valley Authority.” 3-18.
  • • Strand, Ginger. “The Poetry of Power.” (http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/4685/).
  • Response paper due in ELF by midnight on Monday, Nov. 7. (Comments due in ELF by midnight on Tuesday).
  • Unit E: Reading the Yukon River Watershed
  • Week 8: Nov. 17
  • Core texts:
  • • Maclean, Dan. Selections from Paddling the Yukon River and Its Tributaries. 6-30; 31-89.
  • • O’Neill, Dan. Selections from A Land Gone Lonesome. 1-61; 23-42.
  • Supplementary texts:
  • • Kowalewski, Michael. “Contemporary Regionalism.” 7-24.
  • • Lyon, Thomas. J. “A Taxonomy of Nature Writing.” 276-81.
  • No class. Response paper due in ELF by midnight on Monday, Nov. 14. (Comments due in ELF by midnight on Tuesday).
  • Unit F: Exploring a Local Watershed
  • Week 9: Nov. 24
  • Work on your fieldwork project.
  • Supplementary text:
  • • Solomon, Steven. Selections from Water. 1-5; 448-86; 487-96.
  • Week 10: Dec. 1
  • Work on your fieldwork project.
  • Supplementary text:
  • • Miller, Char, ed. Selections from Water in the 21st-Century West. 1-8; 134-71; 174-97; 301-04.
  • Class session IV on Thursday, Dec. 1; fieldwork project due in class.
  • Unit G: Writing a Watershed
  • Week 11: Dec. 8
  • Work on your paper proposal and annotated bibliography.
  • Supplementary text:
  • • Glennon, Robert. Selections from Unquenchable. 1-20; 23-102; 205-314; 315-25.
  • Week 12: Dec. 15
  • Work on your paper proposal and annotated bibliography.
  • Supplementary texts:
  • • Aberley, Doug. “Interpreting Bioregionalism: A Story from Many Voices.” 14-42.
  • Class session V on Thursday, Dec. 15; research paper proposal and annotated bibliography due in ELF by midnight on Monday, Dec. 12. (Comments due in ELF by midnight on Tuesday).
Literatura
    povinná literatura
  • Powell, John Wesley. Selections from The Exploration of the Colorado River and Its Canyons.
  • Heat-Moon, William Least. Selections from River-Horse: The Logbook of a Boat Across America.
  • Kostash, Myrna. Selections from Reading the River: A Traveller’s Companion to the North Saskatchewan River.
  • Zwinger, Ann Haymond. Selections from Downcanyon: A Naturalist Explores the Colorado River, through the Grand Canyon.
  • Maclean, Dan. Selections from Paddling the Yukon River and Its Tributaries.
  • Reid, Jan. Selections from Rio Grande.
  • Bales, Stephen Lyn. Selections from “Spring” and “Summer.” Natural Histories: Stories from the Tennessee Valley.
  • Fleck, Richard F., ed. Selections from A Colorado River Reader.
  • Bowden, Keith. Selections from The Tecate Journals: Seventy Days on the Rio Grande.
  • Hillerman, Tony. “Rio Grande.” New Mexico, Rio Grande, and Other Essays.
  • McNamee, Gregory. Selections from Gila: The Life and Death of an American River.
  • Marion, Jeff Daniel. “By the Banks of the Holston: Memories of a River.”
  • Silko, Leslie Marmon. “Yellow Woman.” Storyteller.
  • Awiakta, Marilou. Selections from Abiding Appalachia: Where Mountain and Atom Meet.
  • van Herk, Aritha. “My Misfit River.” Alberta Encore: People, Places, and Poetry from Legacy Magazine.
  • O’Neill, Dan. Selections from A Land Gone Lonesome: An Inland Voyage along the Yukon River.
    doporučená literatura
  • Adler, Robert W. Selections from Restoring Colorado River Ecosystems: A Troubled Sense of Immensity.
  • Glennon, Robert. Selections from Unquenchable: America’s Water Crisis and What to Do About It.
  • Agee, James. “Tennessee Valley Authority.” Selected Journalism.
  • Lyon, Thomas. J. “A Taxonomy of Nature Writing.” The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology.
  • Powell, James Lawrence. Selections from Dead Pool: Lake Powell, Global Warming, and the Future of Water in the West.
  • Snyder, Gary. “Coming into the Watershed.” A Place in Space: Ethics, Aesthetics, and Watersheds.
  • Aberley, Doug. “Interpreting Bioregionalism: A Story from Many Voices.” Bioregionalism.
  • Strand, Ginger. “The Poetry of Power.”
  • Horgan, Paul. Selections from Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History.
  • Littlefield, Douglas. R. Selections from Conflict on the Rio Grande: Water and the Law, 1879-1939.
  • Miller, Char, ed. Selections from Water in the 21st-Century West: A High Country News Reader.
  • Solomon, Steven. Selections from Water: The Epic Struggle for Wealth, Power, and Civilization.
  • Kowalewski, Michael. “Contemporary Regionalism.” A Companion to Regional Literatures of America.
  • Buell, Lawrence. “Watershed Aesthetics.” Writing for an Endangered World: Literature, Culture, and Environment in the U.S and Beyond.
Výukové metody
Class sessions will include short opening presentations, group work, audiovisual learning, and, mainly, discussion. Regular online assignments and posts in discussion forums are integral components of the course.
Metody hodnocení
Assessment:
Participation: 10%
Response Papers: 30%
Fieldwork Project: 20%
Research Paper Proposal and Annotated Bibliography: 20%
Research paper: 20%
Policies and other announcements:
Attendance: You are expected to come to class regularly. The five class sessions will be mainly seminar discussions and your active participation is crucial to the success of the course. If you must miss a class, please e-mail or talk with me as soon as possible. I will excuse your absence only if there is a medical or family emergency.
Assignments: Since your preparation prior to class sessions is crucial, I can only accept late assignments in cases of serious and documented emergencies. Please upload your written work to ELF by the date and time when the particular assignment is due and also bring along a hard copy to submit in class. Whenever possible, samples of the types of work expected in the course will be shared in advance. You must complete all the assignments in order to receive a final grade for the course. For more information on each assignment, please read the assignment guidelines. Do not hesitate to e-mail or stop by during office hours if you have any further questions.
Assignment guidelines:
Participation
You are expected to attend all class sessions, to have read the assigned readings for each week, and to actively participate in class discussion. Part of your participation will be measured by your discussion questions and commentary on fellow students’ Response Papers (see Response Papers, below).
Response Papers
Purpose: To read critically, notice details, take notes, make connections, return to key passages, gain a deeper appreciation of the core texts; to clearly formulate one’s own thoughts in writing; to get personalized feedback from the instructor; to be prepared to participate in class discussion.
Content: No research, “only” your own creative / critical thoughts, discoveries and opinions based on the core texts; close textual analysis; narrow focus (particular themes, images, narrative techniques, relationships, issues, contexts, and so on); at the end, include 2-3 discussion questions that stem from your Response Paper to be used in class.
Form: Approximately two pages (about 800 words); double-spaced; MLA format; title.
Style: Clear argumentation; careful organization (introduction, main body, conclusion); coherent paragraphs; integrated citations (of core texts/supplementary readings cited – no outside research required); academic language.
Due dates: Please upload your RP into the appropriate Echo Assignment page in ELF by midnight on the Monday before class (on Oct. 3, 17, and 31, as well as Nov. 7 and Nov. 14) and also bring along a hard copy to refer to and then submit in class.
Other: By midnight on the Tuesday before class (on Oct. 4, 18, and Nov. 1, as well as Nov. 8 and 15) you will need to have read at least one of your classmates’ Response Papers from ELF, and posted a comment in the Discussion Board (this counts toward your class participation grade).
Fieldwork Project
Purpose: To gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between people, place, and literature, by exploring a particular place of interest to you, preferably, though not necessarily, within the context of its watershed(s); to integrate personal environmental experience with reading about the natural world.
Content: Either a primarily creative or critical approach to examining a place, based on first-hand experience, course texts, suggested readings, and class discussions. You are encouraged, but not required, to develop concepts raised in one or more of your Response Papers as part of your Fieldwork Project.
Form: Open. Possible forms include, but are not limited to: 1) portfolio of related scholarly/creative work, with brief introduction; 2) photo-essay; 3) power-point/multi-media presentation; 4) website; 5) creative writing; 6) journal; 7) other alternative form approximating a ten-page report.
Style: Driven by form; clearly, some forms call for a more personal and/or informal style than is usual in academic discourse. Due date: You will turn in your fieldwork project in class on Dec. 1. Paper Proposal and Annotated Bibliography
Purpose: To organize the results of your research; to articulate your main argument regarding a topic of your choice; to receive feedback from the instructor; to get ready to write the research paper.
Content: A concise introduction to your topic and your methodology/critical approach(es); a preliminary version of your main argument; an outline of structure; an annotated list of the primary as well as secondary sources you have consulted so far and plan to integrate into your paper.
Form: Title; abstract (about 250 words); a list of at least five principal sources (with complete bibliographical information and a five-sentence summary of each secondary source highlighting why it is useful to you); MLA format; double-spaced.
Style: Academic language.
Due date: Please upload your PP&AB into the appropriate Echo Assignment page in ELF by midnight on Monday Dec. 12.
Other: By midnight on Tuesday Dec. 13 you will need to have read at least one of your classmates’ Paper Proposals from ELF, and posted a comment in the Discussion Board (this counts toward your class participation grade).
Research Paper
Purpose: To examine some aspect of North American watershed literature that interests you; to develop your ideas with the help of a variety of sources; to formulate an argument and support it by convincing evidence.
Content: Preferably, your paper will focus on one (or two or three) of the works we have studied. You may also discuss an author whose work we have not looked at but who is in some way connected to the issues we have covered. You may analyze various literary features (the use of imagery, narrative technique, etc.) through one critical approach or another, but I especially welcome interdisciplinary perspectives that in some way connect literature with history, ecology, and other fields. You are encouraged to draw on the themes that emerged (and re-emerged) in your response papers, your field-work project, and in class discussions during the semester. Form: Eight to ten pages (about 3200 words), double-spaced; MLA format; endnotes or footnotes only for informative/explanatory notes, title.
Style: Strong, consistent argumentation; clear organization; coherent paragraphs; integrated references; academic language.
Due date: Please upload your paper into the appropriate Echo Assignment page in ELF by midnight on Monday, Jan.9 (1st re-sit Jan. 23, 2nd re-sit Feb. 6).
Vyučovací jazyk
Angličtina
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Studijní materiály
Předmět je vyučován jednou za dva roky.
Předmět je zařazen také v obdobích podzim 2013.